Hang the SINNers Volume 6
by The-Tiger-and-The-Wolf
Summary: Things are changing with ghost appearing and new characters with strange ties the members of team SINN are slowly realising they are fighting a losing war one that had been raging for centuries it seems
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Argus Limited

I was going to meet the others back at the train station, I just had a little business to finish first. I walked into the Jewler's shop, the bell above the door alerting the woman at the desk of my entrance. The woman was fair haired and had bright green eyes.

"Ah, hello you here for your ring?" She asked.

"Yes, I hope it wasn't too much of a problem with the time frame, I know how hard it is to keep on top of timing." I smiled to her.

"No, luckily you chose gems we have in stock. Here you go, I hope she says yes." The shopkeeper smiled.

"Yeah... I hope so too." I smiled knowing that she wouldn't say it but show it. I slid the velvet box into my pocket and left.

I leaned back with a soft sigh, it had taken a while for us to pack everything and actually book our spots on a train to Argus, in that time I had replaced my old weapons and reformed Cerberus into a scythe, I had a new guitar and a completely new outfit. The long coat I wore was a charcoal grey with neon blue running on the front view edges, dark grey skinny jeans with a knife strapped to my right thigh, a nice strong leather belt, a grey undercoat and a pair of fingerless elbow length leather gloves held together by silver studs.

I looked at the small bag that held what few items I had, mainly small tools that I would use in a forge minus a hammer since Qrow said I couldn't bring one with us. I stared at my nearly black bag, it looked like a bulky cylinder the straps on it came together to make more of a partial chest plate of leather.

Looking at the others I saw my girlfriend Neo was happily reading a book she had brought along, Ice was busy checking on the condition of his sword, no idea why he loved katanas so much, he'd look way cooler with a broadsword or a longsword. Naniele was munching on a pretzel Ice bought her. Jet was chatting to Sky and Ray was reading a fashion magazine.

I watched as Ruby zoomed over with a childish grin on her face.

"And?" Was all Yang asked, Ruby held out a little bag.

"What an absolute waste of time-" Weiss then got interrupted by the blonde bombshell we call a friend.

"What did you get me?" Yang asked.

"You'll have to wait and see!" Ruby sing-songed to her sister.

"No fair." Yang exclaimed and went to snatch it.

"Hey you two no fighting, even I've had enough fighting for a while." I called down at them.

Neo tugged at my sleeve and showed me pictures of the beautiful beaches along the coast of Argus.

"Sorry, it's still a bit early for swimsuit season." I joked poking at her sides as she pouted.

"But hey one step closer to Atlas, another step closer to caving you know who's face in." Ice laughed I rolled my eyes.

"Well, I'm glad you're all excited. But I don't think you appreciate the trouble I went through to leave Atlas." Weiss exclaimed obviously unamused by our antics.

"I know you're worried, Weiss, but trust us. Team RWBY won't leave your side for a second! I promise." Ruby smiled.

"And anyways I have a few bones to pick with your old man, so don't think for a second you'll be alone if he ever confronts you." I called over as my nails grew into their usual claws before reverting back. Weiss smiled at us.

"No one's gotta be worries with us around." Some idiot called as my ear swivelled.

"And you are?" I growled showing my teeth.

"Why Dee and Dudley of course. The Argus Limited's very own Huntsmen. We'll be keeping everyone safe as we pass through Grimm territory." Dee said I glanced at his spiked mace and clicked my tongue trying to measure them up.

"But for a generous tip, we can make sure your passenger car gets extra special attention should things get dangerous." Dudley winks at the group of course I got up and glared at them.

"Yeah, I got a tip for ya." It was Qrow, finally joining the group.

"Get lost." I snarled at them.

"Looks like Mistral's really scraping the bottom of the barrel these days." Qrow joked shoving his hands into his pocket as he came to stand by my side.

"Hey, you're talking to-" Dudley started.

"A professional Huntsman, right. Well, it seems one of you heroes left the staff entrance to the caboose wide open." He sighed showing his Huntsman ID to them. I glare angrily at them.

"It'd be a shame to lose your job before it even started." Qrow continued patting my shoulder to calm me down.

"I didn't do it!" Dudley tried to defend himself.

"Come on Dummy." Dee growled as they walked off, Dudley gave us one last glance before following his partner.

"Well I didn't do it either." Dee argued.

"You know sometimes the burden of saving the world feels overwhelming. But then people like that come along and make me grateful that it's our jobs and theirs." Oscar smiled as I calmed down and slumped back down onto the bench.

"No objection there." I replied.

"So, you kids ready to go? Bike all loaded up? Weird deer robot?"

"Yeah." Yang smiled.

"Grimmgash is parked up next to it. Got most of my tools, still don't understand why you won't let me bring the hammer I made." I told him. Neo then patted the pet carrier with Heathen happily curled up inside.

"I know what you're capable of when it comes to improvisation. At least we won't lose the cat." He told me I groaned.

"Just waiting on Blake. As usual." Weiss told him as I went to check through my things again, unbeknownst to Qrow I did sneak my forge hammer in with my bag.

When we boarded the train, my team were placed in a room with two sets of bunk beds. I was laid on the bottom bunk with my guitar happily playing away as Neo continued with her book. Naniele was doodling on some paper Ice gave her while he was playing a game on his scroll. Heathen was giving himself a bath on the end of my bed.

"_**Find it..."**_

I suddenly stopped and looked about the room.

"You guys hear something?" I asked putting my guitar down.

"No..." Were their replies.

"_**The relic is inside. Kill everything.**_"

I've never heard any voice like that before, an angry snarl almost like a general but not at the same time. The train suddenly jolted. I pulled on my bag and pulled out my Cerberus scythe.

"This isn't good, right team let's go!" I snapped running out to see what we're dealing with.

As we climbed to the top of the train, we gasped at the sight of a group of Manticores approaching from the back. Dee and Dudley are already up top and prepare to fight the Grimm. A much larger Grimm, a Sphinx, lands on the train and lets out a loud roar.

Dee charges his weapon, an electrical spiked club, and charges forward to attack.

"_**Kill him first!**_"

The Sphinx roars and a Manticore flies by to snatch up Dee. So, it was the Sphinx I heard.

"Dee!" Dudley screamed in vein, I rolled my shoulders.

"So 'Leader' what's the plan?" Ice joked as I switched to my shotgun.

"Show no mercy." I said as the veins on my arms turned purple.

I was fine with shooting the Grimm out of the air and even slashing some with my new scythe when they got too close, the weapon however didn't feel natural to me, the large sweeps were appealing to watch but it just felt off for me.

I decided to leave the manticores to my team while I went to help Qrow deal with the Sphinx Qrow almost got crushed by its paw only escaping due to his avian form. I tried to see if I could slash the paws from under it but as soon as the blade came in contact with the Grimm it shattered, chunks of the Cerberus Scythe dropped away down into the forest below. The Grimm turned to face me.

"_**Well, well, well, what do we have here? The Betrayer, you would have been a glorious Sentinel to her Majesty."**_ It hissed at me.

"I can understand you... how?" I asked it keeping its attention on me while Qrow looked for a weak spot.

"_**We are both Grimm Shifters, I just chose to bow to our rightful Queen." **_It laughed then suddenly took off, my own Grimm instincts begged me to jump off the train too.

"Tunnel!" I heard Oscar scream, my legs moved on their own slipping down between the cars I quickly went inside to regroup with my team, when Neo saw me, she leapt into my arms grateful I was still with them I then saw Heathen had joined in hissing and puffing up.

As we re-joined the others, we had walked in on Qrow arguing with Dudley.

"Qrow if you wanna scare the man let a professional do so." I growled walking over.

"Oh, and what are you going to do?" Dudley asked sarcastically I only sighed and removed my gloves, the pale skin underneath was suddenly covered in a coat of silver fur, bright blue cracks glowed from the skin beneath, my claws dug into his coat.

"You are going to turn off those turrets, then we'll see to your arm." I told him calmly.

I let go of his now torn coat and pulled my gloves back on. My ear flicked when I heard a baby cry, turning to the passengers I saw an obviously destressed woman in need of some help.

Walking over I put a hand on her shoulder ignoring the murmurs from the other passengers.

"May I?" I asked gesturing to her baby.

"O-of course." She said handing me the child. I only began to hum a lullaby I could barely remember as I gently rocked the child, the cries soon stopped as the infant fell asleep.

"There we go, nice and quiet." I smiled handing it back to its mother.

"Thank you." She said as I re-joined the others.

"Do we have a plan?" I asked.

"We need to keep the passengers safe and divert the Grimm." Sky told me.

"Okay, we split here then, Sky, Ray, Jet, I'm trusting you three to protect the train, with Dudley unable to use his arm he can't shoot his gun properly.

"You got it." Jet said.

"The rest of us keep anymore Grimm from following, that means we need live bait." I continued.

"The Grimm are attracted by what Oscar is carrying, and the sphinx leading them is interested in seeing me dead in particular." By this point they knew what I was planning.

"You'll be okay, right?" Sky asked I chuckled.

"Well, nothing has killed us yet. We'll meet you in Argus, it will just take a bit longer."

"Right, get the passengers to the front of the train, we'll decouple the back car and deal with the Grimm from there." Ruby said as the plan was put into action.

"Wait... we can't take Heathen with us... it's too dangerous for him." Naniele piped up, I looked over to the cat and sighed, going down to his level.

"Do you wanna join us, or keep these people safe?" I asked him, the cat looked me in the eye and in the back of my head I heard him.

"Okay we'll see you again in Argus." He put his paw onto my knee and bumped his head against mine in a farewell.

"Heathen is staying on the train, his food is back in our room, feed him a can in the morning and a can before you turn out the lights." I told Sky, she nodded and we began to move into position.

I stood on the back car as the sphinx landed again, we locked eyes as the others prepared for my signal.

"_**You are only delaying the inevitable give us the relic and your deaths shall be quick."**_ It said, I pulled my gun out and shot a Manticore down telling the others to act fast.

"Go fuck yourself." I shouted as the Manticores began to attack, un sheathing my claws and allowing my form to be covered with silver fur, I took on my Beowolf body and lunged at the Sphinx, we grappled in the air, being smaller gave me an advantage as I slashed at its wings soon grounding it on the train. I howled to them. Qrow and Ruby soon finished the Grimm off, not before it destroyed the tracks though, losing the bones and fur I pulled my hood up and noticed that the smoke from the Sphinx was drifting into me.

I was then thrown from the train and landed hard, in the snow.

"Is everyone okay?" I heard Qrow call, after a few reassuring calls I raised my hand to alert them to where I had landed.

"Still alive!" An old woman called I sat up to look at her, somehow, we didn't notice an old woman sneak into the back car... or the Huntsman in there with her. He walked out, black hair, he was dressed in reds and oranges like Ice, he was holding his head groaning.

"That sure was a close one, huh?"

"Damn it Ms. Calavera, why did I let you convince me to hide back here with you?" He asked rubbing his head. He had sea green eyes and a sword on his back.

He smelled familiar...


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Uncovered

Laying in the snow I couldn't help but feel my racing heart against my ribs. So, now Salem has put a bounty on my head and others like me... only bigger stronger and smarter are after me. But what the hell was with the smoke sinking into me, I knew that while I was Hades killing off smaller Grimm made it stronger but I had never killed another Grimm Shifter before, as far as I knew I was the only one around.

"Great! This is just great! We're _stranded, _we've lost a _third_ of our party, and gained a random Huntsman and a defenceless old _lady_!" Yang grunted pulling her bike out of the snow, I sat up and rolled my shoulders, grabbing my discarded bag and walked into the car we crashed on. Inside I found some more dust, Grimmgash who laid on his side and a "break in case of emergency" box with an axe in it.

Smashing the glass, I took the axe and whistled turning on Grimmgash, the stag snorted as it got up and followed me out of the car and back into the snow, my boots crunched as I sank a little down, Grimmgash stood on top of the snow.

"My name is Maria Calavera, and I am **not** defenceless! I'm just a little hard of hearing. And _blind_ without my eyes, that are in _desperate_ need of repair." She said tapping at her prosthetic eyes.

"Okay, I'm starting to see your point." She said I sighed as I watched.

"I'm Cole Chalk, a Huntsman from Atlas, I got convinced by said old lady to hop in that car, by the way, that deer thing is terrifying." The Huntsman introduced himself.

"Yang, knock it off will ya? If we lose our cool now, we'll just be inviting even more Grimm." Qrow grunted trying the defuse the situation.

"Does it even matter? Apparently, we've been attracting Grimm ever since we left Haven." Blake argued, I walked through the group and handed Ice the dust I had found.

"Oh, and _how_ could I forget that?" She snarled turning to Oscar. "What happened to "no more lies and half-truths"?" She barked at him.

"Yeah I think it's time we got an explanation..." Oscar hissed as he switched controls. Ozpin scowls at the accusations.

"I _did not lie_ to you." He said.

"Bullshit!" I snapped feeling my temper rise, I could feel the crystals in my pocket rumble, Red wanted back into my head.

"Well you certainly didn't tell us everything about the Relic." Weiss hissed.

"Please, now is not the time." Ozpin tried to explain.

"No, we're past that! I wanna know why you're still not telling us everything!" Yang yelled at him.

"It is true that the Grimm are attracted to the Relics. It's faint, but undeniable. I believe it has to do with their origin, but I'm not entirely sure. Regardless, I feared that making you all aware would only add anxiety and negativity. It seemed like the safer option." He continued.

"Have you MET me?" I yelled at him.

"I'm nothing but a bottle of hate, and now as I've learned I've got a bloody bounty on my head that all Grimm seem pretty keen on getting." I snarled at him.

"You know, I'm getting really tired of people choosing what's best for me." Weiss said agreeing with Yang and I.

"Is that why you chose to lie to everyone about Lionheart too?" Yang asked, the situation was so tense you could cut it with a knife.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I believed the Kingdom of Mistral deserved better than the truth. And I believed Leonardo deserved to be remembered for his lifetime of service, and not for the unfortunate missteps he made in his final years." Ozpin tried to convince us.

"Missteps?" I said my grip on the emergency axe tightened.

"What Professor Lionheart did was reprehensible. I am not here to argue differently, but does one lapse in judgement truly negate all of his good? Do we not all have regrets? You may have met Professor Lionheart, but you never met the man he was before Salem found him." He argued I only showed my teeth.

"You're right, we didn't, but Ruby and my team knew me before "the incident happened" and if anything, my anger issues have just gotten worse." I snapped.

"Look, we're supposed to be in this together. You can trust us! We're not gonna turn our backs on you." Yang said getting us all back on track with the proper conversation.

"Okay, can we just all calm down this is getting us nowhere." Cole interjected.

"Oh, shut up will ya? This has nothing to do with you, so stay out of it." I yelled at him.

"Do you really think Leo was the first?!" He yelled we all jumped at our old headmaster raising his voice.

"That he didn't say those exact same words to me? I'm sorry, but you have to understand that my behaviours are backed by experience. I'm not saying that I have reason to think you will betray me. I'm saying that I have reasons for the things that I do, the secrets I keep, the reason I..." He froze as he placed his hand on his hip expecting the relic to be there.

"Where is the relic?" He asked, Ruby stepped forwards.

"Right here. It got scattered in the crash." She said holding it in her hands.

"Please, hand it over." Ozpin asked I growled angrily my Grimm senses told me to keep it away from him at all costs.

Ruby hesitated, I looked back and locked eyes with her only for a split second.

"So, all those times you talked about having faith in humanity, that was just for everyone else?" She asked I turned to face Ozpin again this time pulling my shotgun out as well.

"That's not what I meant to suggest. Miss Rose, the Relic is a powerful item and I simply feel as though it is my burden to bear." He quickly replied, I could feel he was hiding something, the scent of worry was rolling off of him.

"But you said it couldn't do anything right now." Ruby said staring into the Relic.

"Why does it matter who carries it?" Blake snapped.

"I need you to listen to me-" He froze.

"Oz?" Qrow asked, taking this as my chance I pounced pinning Ozpin to the ground while Oscar tried to fight back control.

"Hurry... he's... trying to stop you!" Oscar cried out.

"Stop her from what?" Yang asked now worried.

"He's afraid... you'll find out what he's... hiding!" Oscar explained as his body grew limp beneath me, I kept my grim in case Ozpin tried to throw me off at a moment's weakness.

"Her name is Jinn. Say her name to summon her." Oscar explained. I turned to the others.

"Hurry up Ruby, not sure how long Oscar can keep old Oz back for!" I called over I could feel his aura swirling ready for an attack.

"Jinn?" Ruby asked the relic, the now raging snowstorm froze, as if time itself had stopped.

"What?" Qrow looked about confused, I felt Ozpin's aura suddenly hit me hard in the chest, I hit the snow hard but I was soon back on my feet, I pulled my weapons from the snow as a warning.

I turned to watch the Relic get covered by cyan smoke, just before I could see what the Relic truly looked like Neo covered my eyes with her hands.

"Hey!" I yelled trying to shake her off my back.

"Wonderful, it's been a while since I've last seen a Grimm Shifter with their mortal face still intact." She poked fun at me.

"Tell me, what knowledge do you seek?" She asked us.

"I am Jinn, a being created by the God of Light to aid humanity in its pursuit of knowledge. I've been graced with the ability to answer three questions every one hundred years. You're in luck, as I am still able to answer-" By this point Neo had let me get a look at Jinn and while she is impressive, I'd much prefer my little Ice Cream or the Demon Queen hiding from the cold inside Naniele.

"That's enough!" Ozpin snapped now back in control.

"Shut it!" I yelled back at him.

"... two questions this era." She finished, we all looked back at Ozpin.

"You went and lied again Oz..." I snarled Jinn only chuckled.

"It's a pleasure to see you again, old man." She jokingly said.

"Ruby, please... Don't." Was all he said, Qrow glanced at him and took a step towards us.

"Hey." Was all he managed to get out before Weiss, Yang, Blake, Ice, Neo, and I pointed our weapons at him.

"Do whatever you think is right, kiddo." He finished stepping back in fear we would all stab him.

"Jinn... What is Ozpin hiding from us?" She asked.

"No!" Ozpin yelled getting up and lunging for her, I moved to intercept but suddenly everything disappeared and I was alone surrounded by white... A blank canvas.

"Neo? Ice? Naniele" I called out hoping that one of them would hear me.

"Once upon a time." I heard Jinn narrate.

"There stood a lonely tower." She continued as the scene came to life in a blue wisp of smoke.

"That sheltered a lonely girl." A mirror and a young woman appeared beside me, I went to walk around to get a look at her face but she soon turned around herself, and something about her face shape seemed familiar to me.

"Named... Salem." My heart dropped into my boots.


	3. Chapter 3

**Wolf: So I have a bit of explaining to do, mainly, yes this is a very long chapter so strap yourself in, get a warm drink and some snacks or some shit, now this is a long chapter due to the fact that I have used the actual transcript of this episode to help write this chapter so of course Silver is taking a step out of the limelight for the chapter.**

**Tiger: And your laptop's hard drive fucking died on you**

**Wolf: Ah yes, that's the reason why this chapter took so long**

Chapter 3 The Lost Fable

A blue dust cloud appeared, revealing Salem staring from her window of the tower, her arms crossed. A woman humming could be heard in the background.

"Locked away by her cruel father, Salem was a girl who desired but one thing: freedom." Jinn narrated her voice echoing inside of my head as I looked at the spacious room she had.

Salem walked by me, my eyes staring in disbelief that this woman was the enemy.

"She lived in a time when kings and their kingdoms were plentiful, when men and women were capable of greatness, and magic was a gift from the gods that all could wield." Jinn continued, Salem sat down and leant against the desk of her mirror. She held out her left hand, using... magic? Four glowing spheres appeared with a magic circle in six basic colours over her hand.

"And yet, there she sat within her tower." If she had these powers then she could have easily broken herself out, I knew I would have.

As Salem looked down, the blue dust cloud reappeared and enveloped Salem to the next scene. The blue smoke reforms the castle Salem resides in.

"Until one day, a legendary hero came to brave the challenges within the tower's walls." I just couldn't wrap my head around how all this is going on around me.

A young man in armour and a cape wielding a sceptre appeared standing proudly in front of the tower. I walked up to him again finding his features very familiar.

"The people of the lands knew him as Ozma." Ozma? Wait... this was Ozpin?

I waved my hand in front of Ozma's face, but he just proceeded forward unfazed, simply phasing through my hand.

"Unlike those who had come before, this warrior was not driven by the prize of the young maiden's hand. He fought only for righteousness, and his pure heart and courageous soul prevailed." I walk at his side feeling my head spinning at all this information.

As Ozma walked up to the tower, other warriors are shown falling in battle my ears flicked as I watched them fall. Blue smoke reforms the scene once again, this time showing Ozma using his sceptre to strike down a dark-armoured figure. Ozma then opens up a door leading to Salem's room, where she stands up and offers a grateful smile to him. Blue smoke reforms the scene of them battling side by side with their magic powers.

"They escaped the wretched fortress, and yet something bound them together." I tilted my head watching the scene unfurl wishing I had some popcorn or something.

Smoke reforms the scene showing Ozma and Salem running away from the tower holding hands together. Once at a safe distance, the two stopped to catch their breath before looking to each other.

"Ozma had been ready to give his life for justice countless times, but now saw a woman worth saving it for. And Salem, to her surprise, found her freedom not in the outside world she had yearned for, but in the eyes of the man that had saved her." I couldn't help but smile at that.

"So, where should we go now?" Salem asked Ozma he only offered his hand.

"Wherever you'd like." He smiled at her.

"The two fell deeply in love, planned adventures around the world, and lived happily ever after." I smiled feeling satisfied.

Smoke envelops the environment around Ozma and Salem as the two hold hands. The two disappear into a bright light of white space.

"Or at least that's what should have been." Oh, come on!

Smoke then reformed the scene showing Salem kneeling at an unconscious Ozma's bedside. Salem held Ozma's hand and can be heard sobbing. My heart dropped again as I realised the situation.

"Ozma, the infallible hero of legend, fell ill. And where all the beasts and blades of the world had fallen short, a single sickness prevailed."

Ozma's body disappears in smoke as Salem continues sobbing, holding his sceptre in her hands. I clenched my fists and turned my head away.

"How could the gods let this happen?" Salem asked herself, the gods?

As I continued to watch I looked up to notice two spheres - one bright yellow and the other a dark purple - circling above her head.

"The gods, brothers of light and darkness, creation and destruction. Salem prayed they would see the injustice that had befallen her love and make things right."

The two orbs encircling above lowered down. A bright light and blue smoke transition the scene, this time showing a brightly lit place with a stairway that led up the mountain.

"The Domain of Light was a sacred place." I whistled to myself, impressed by the look of the place.

Salem approaches the stairway, offering flowers. She held Ozma's sceptre in her hand.

"It was here the elder brother dwelled beside his fountain of life and creation. It was here... where mankind would fall to ruin."

I watched Salem walk up the stairs as smoke transitions the scene again, with Salem now at the top of the mountain as she looks upon the Domain of Light, valley filled with flowers with a pool of water and a tree at the centre. Leaves blow from the tree and encircles above the water, and from it, the God of Light rises from the pool. He walks forward to Salem.

He had the build of the average man however, large antler like horns adorned his head.

"Please... Please, bring him back to me." She begged him on her knees.

"I understand your pain, but you demand of me that which I cannot make so. Life and death are part of a delicate balance." He told her.

"So... you won't do it then?" She asked.

"To disrupt the cycle of-" She was quick to interrupt

"But that's not fair... That's not fair!" She screamed her voice echoed throughout the Domain from her last exclamation.

"Let him rest."

The wind picked up, causing leaves to blow around Salem. Suddenly, she finds herself back at the bottom of the stairway leading to the  
Domain of Light. She looks to Ozma's sceptre in her hands before looking up angrily.

"No." This was not going to end well for her.

Blue smoke transitions the scene again, this time showing a dark, foreboding environment with a stairway leading up the mountain, similarly mirroring that of the Domain of Light's.

"The God of Darkness…" My heart skipped a beat as the familiar land came into veiw.

Salem approaches some skeletal remains at the bottom of the stairs.

"None dare to enter his home, as men knew what monstrosities emerged from his blackened pools of annihilation."

Salem proceeded forward I swallowed my fear, approaching a blackened pool of tar-like liquid similar to that of which the Creatures of Grimm spawn from.

"And so, you must understand the Dark Lord's surprise when he found a lone woman kneeling before him." Jinn continued the tale, I had almost forgotten about her narration.

From the blackened pool, the God of Darkness emerged, his body twisted and contorted. I cringed at the sight.

"Oh God What the fuck?!" I screamed. The God of Darkness crawled toward Salem in an unnatural position. Grimm can be seen inching closer to her.

"Salem understood it well. She told him of her loss and professed that she knew only he could answer her prayers, all while careful to make no mention of his elder."

Salem is seen telling her story to the God of Darkness before offering Ozma's sceptre to him.

"Rise, child, and let your faith in me be rewarded." Something felt wrong, VERY wrong.

Salem does so. The God of Darkness then conjured a purple sphere, and from it, Ozma's body appears. Salem approached him, and Ozma gasped back to life.

"Where am I? What is this?! WHERE AM I?!" He cried out.

"It's okay! Everything's going to be okay!" Salem told him with a smile.

Suddenly, the God of Light appeared with a sound of thunder at the top of the stairs leading into the God of Darkness' domain.

"What have you done?" He growled, my ears folded back as I began to snarl like the other Beowolves around.

"I have done what I please, brother. You may bask in the powers of creation, but you do not own them." The dark god told him.

"This is not creation." They began to argue.

"Do not lecture me!"

The Grimm began to slowly approaching the God of Light and I was itching to join them.

"I will do what I must to maintain order."

The God of Light puts his hand out, and an orange aura surrounds Ozma's body, before he disintegrates in Salem's arms.

"No! No! What did you do?! BRING HIM BACK!" Salem cried out.

"You dare enter my domain and show such disrespect!" Darkness snarled.

The God of Darkness makes Ozma's body appear again.

"Ozma!" I knew what was coming next.

"I am abiding by the rules we agreed upon!" Light argued his point.

"Rules that I now see are ever in your favour. And yet the day a mortal comes to pray at my feet before your own, so do you arrive to lay your judgment upon me!" Darkness Bellowed.

The God of Darkness transformed into a nightmarish, dragon-like form that snarls at the God of Light. The Grimm proceed forward and attempted to attack him, but a bright light emanated from him, destroying all the Grimm in the area and making my eyes burn. He had transformed into a bright, beautiful oriental-looking dragon. Well shit.

"I know we have our differences, but I have not come here with the aim to control you. The same, however, cannot said for her. This woman came to you only after I denied her pleas – pleas that would have disrupted the balance that you and I created. Together." He told his younger brother.

The younger brother pondered this revelation.

"Then it seems I owe you an apology. Allow me to correct my mistake." He said turning to Salem and Ozma

"No!" Salem cried.

The God of Darkness fired a purple beam from his dragon form's mouth, disintegrating Ozma once again. Salem watched as Ozma's ashes blow away out of her hands.

"You… You monsters! Give him back to me! GIVE HIM BACK!" She howled at them.

Salem activated her magical abilities. Suddenly, the God of Light rushed forward and devours her.

Salem then awoke falling from the sky. She is then submerged in the God of Light's pool, drowning as an aura-like shimmer covers her body. Suddenly, she finds herself on the surface of the water, catching her breath. She looked up and notices both of the God Brothers standing side by side.

"When you first came to me, I did pity you. But it is clear now that your selfishness and arrogance have led you astray." Light told her.

"What did you do to me?" She asked

The aura-like shimmer is seen on her hands.

"I have made you immortal." He told her my heart began to hammer in my chest with worry.

"Immortal?" just like me...

"You cannot die. You cannot be with your beloved." Light explained.

"So long as this world turns, you shall walk its face." The both said.

Salem stared back at them in disbelief.

"You must learn the importance of life and death. Only then may you rest." Light told her.

Salem tried to reach out to them, but then found herself transported to a vast open field.

"Salem was a prisoner once again. Her fruitless attempts to reunite with Ozma eventually became nothing more than acts of spite and defiance against the gods." Jinn sighed, I placed a clenched fist over my heart, feeling the powerful thudding that echoed inside of me.

The scene had returned to that of Ozma's room, watching a shadow of Salem as she fatally stabbed herself. I only sighed to myself remembering me doing something similar back at Beacon. Salem's suicide attempt failed due to her immortality.

"But perhaps the gods were not as powerful as they seemed…" Jinn said.

I watched Salem walk to a window, who was still holding the sword she attempted to stab herself with.

"She had lied to them, turned them against one another, they… were fallible." Okay this was really bad now.

Salem set her sights on a castle in the distance.

"If she were to turn humanity against light and darkness, she could rid herself of their curse, or at the very least… she could make them suffer." OH GOD NO!

Salem then threw the sword toward me. I didn't flinch as Salem disappeared in a puff of smoke just as the sword was about to strike me. Smoke transitions the scene, showing a king standing up in surprise as a bloodied axe is thrown to the ground.

"Salem travelled from one kingdom to another, telling tales of how she stole immortality from the gods, welcomed any swordsman to cut her down, and demonstrated her powers." No Salem that is bad.

Salem was shown speaking to various leaders of kingdoms, including the aforementioned king from before, an oriental-looking empress and her subjects, and finally to a savage-looking warrior king. I rubbed my face and groaned loudly at how horribly this was going to end.

"With the kings and queens in awe, she pulled them deeper into her scheme. She painted them pictures of a time when they would no longer have to watch their loved one's wither and die, when they could claim the powers of their creators for themselves, and in turn, perfect their own design." Jinn explained at this point I had given up all hope.

As Salem finished telling her story to the warrior king, she kneels before him. The warrior drew his weapon and lets out a proud battle cry, with his people cheering along with him. The combined forces of the kingdoms are then shown launching an all-out assault on the Domain of Light.

"All they needed to do was destroy their old masters."

As the warriors run in, the God of Light emerges from the pool in his dragon form. I only facepalmed as they failed.

"The gods had hoped that Salem would learn from her eternal curse, and she did. She learned that the hearts of men are easily swayed." Well no shit Sherlock.

The leaders of the kingdoms Salem had spoken to stand in front of their people approaching the God of Light. The God of Darkness, also in his dragon form, then appears alongside his elder brother.

"Who has led you down this path?" Light questioned.

Salem is then seen walking through the crowds of warriors as she makes her way to the front of them. She glares at the gods.

"You..." Darkness growled before bellowing in rage at Salem.

In response, Salem launched a magical attack, and the warriors follow suit. A barrage of attacks was launched at the God of Darkness, but he easily caught them all into his hand, absorbing them into a purple sphere of energy. Everyone looked in shock. I only took a deep breath.

"They're all fucking idiots." I groaned.

"My own gift to them... used against me." Dark hissed.

The God of Light looked away in disappointment as the God of Darkness squeezed the sphere within his hand, creating a massive shockwave that enveloped the world, smiting everything and everyone in its path. Humanity had been turned to dust, only Salem remained due to her immortality.

"No... no..." She whimpered.

Salem got knocked back when the God of Darkness stomped his foot in the ground.

"You thought there was no greater punishment we could bestow upon you?" Dark revealed.

"I'll come back. I'll tell the rest of the world of this massacre! Build a new army!" She yelled.

"You do not understand. There is no one left. You are all that remains of humanity." Darkness told her.

Salem's expression turned to shock at this revelation.

"This planet was a beautiful experiment, but it is merely a remnant of what it once was. We will learn from this failure. I hope that you will learn from yours." Light sighed.

The God of Light disappears into a bright light of dust.

"No! You can't leave! You can't leave! COME BACK!" Salem screamed in frustration.

"Still demanding things of your creators..." Dark growled.

The God of Darkness also disappears into a beam of purple light that shoots up into the sky and out of the atmosphere. In the process, the moon is shattered. Moon fragments rain down like meteors back onto the planet's surface. Salem falls to her knees and lets out a scream of despair that is muted out by the crashing meteors.

"Once again, Salem was alone..." Jinn sighed as I walked towards the kneeling woman, I could feel the hate making my blood bubble.

Salem was then seen walking alone. She walked by a pair of deer eating grass, as well as abandoned villages that are now inhabited by Grimm. I could only bare my teeth knowing I could not lash out at her.

"She cursed the gods. She cursed the universe. She cursed everything, everything but herself. She wandered the face of the planet, awaiting a death that would never come..." Jinn continued.

Salem then stands on the edge of an overhanging cliff in the land once inhabited by the God of Darkness. She looks down at the blackened pool below her. The pool she had casted me in so long ago to bring Hades into her little game.

"Until fate led her back to the Land of Darkness. This was it. This had to be it, the brother's Grimm, the pools of black that continued to give rise to horrific nightmares. If the fountain of life granted her immortality, then surely, the pools of Grimm will finally take it away." The relic said.

Without hesitation, Salem falls forward and submerged into the blackened pool.

"She was wrong. This force of pure destruction could not destroy a being of infinite life." If it couldn't finish the job with me, then I doubt it could kill her.

Salem is thrashed around by an unseen force.

"Instead, it created a being of infinite life with a desire for pure destruction."

Salem crawls out of the pool, this time, her skin deathly white as well as her hair. She opens her eyes, irises red with black sclerae. So THAT's how she turned into the ugly bitch I want to tear apart so bad.

"And in time, she would find her adversary..."

Ozma is shown awakening in a white space. He takes a look at his surroundings. I watched him walk around aimlessly, before a voice can be heard.

"Ozma." It was Light.

Ozma turned around seeing the God of Light in his dragon form, before he shifted back into his regular form.

"Where am I?" Ozma asked.

"We are between realms. I'm afraid a tragedy has befallen your home at the hands of my brother. We have chosen to depart this world, but in our absence, I would like to offer you the chance to return to it."

"I... don't understand." Ozma told him.

"Mankind is no more, yet your world remains. And in time, your kind will grow to walk its face once again. However, without our presence, they will be but a fraction of what they once were."

Suddenly, the God of Light conjured four objects: a staff, a sword, a crown, and a lamp.

"Creation, destruction, choice, and knowledge were the ideals upon which humanity was made. Now I leave them behind with the hope that you will learn to remake yourselves."

The four objects are conjoined together into a yellow sphere of energy.

"If brought together, these four Relics will summon my brother and I back to your world, and humanity will be judged. If your kind has learned to live in harmony with one another and set aside their differences, then we shall once again live among you, and humanity will be made whole again. But if your kind is unchanged, if you demand our blessings while still fighting amongst yourselves, then man will be found irredeemable and your world will be wiped from existence. Until your task is complete, you will reincarnate, but in a manner that ensures you are never alone." So that's Salem's plan, to wipe Remnant again.

Ozma falls to his knees as he comes to terms with this ultimatum.

"I'm sorry, but... that world just isn't as dear to me without her. If I may, I'd rather return to the afterlife to see Salem." He told the God, oh boy is he gonna get a shock.

"You will not find her there."

"You mean she isn't gone?"

"Salem lives, but the woman you hold dear in your memories is gone. Heed this warning... where you seek comfort, you will only find pain. So, will you-"

"I'll do it." I face palmed again.

The God of Light stared in surprise at Ozma's immediate answer.

"Very well. Our creation rests within your hands."

The God of Light then disappears.

"And so Ozma was reborn."

Ozma reincarnated into a man with a tanned complexion and pale blonde hair, who had just stabbed a Beowolf with a pitchfork, causing it to disintegrate. Ozma takes the time to come to terms in his new body and surroundings. He looked up to see people screaming and running into the forest he is in away from a burning village in the distance.

"Where am I?" He asked himself

Ozma hears a man scream, and looks over to see him flailing a sword at a Beowolf, which swipes at him to the ground, disarming him.  
Ozma's previous soul takes over and runs forward, grabbing the man's sword and slaying the Beowolf. The man gets back up.

"Thank you. Please, tell me your name. Who are you?"

Suddenly, Ozma's newest reincarnate has trouble speaking, and throws the sword to the ground in horror. I clicked my tongue.

As Jinn continued to narrate, Ozma walked down a street, seeing along the way Faunus locked up in cages, and a pile of Dust crystals on top of a table.

"Ozma had found himself in a world completely unfamiliar to him. Cities looked different. Creatures known as the Faunus wore fangs and claws and were locked away in cages. And without the blessing of the gods, no one could perform magic like mankind was once capable of, no one but himself and woman known as... the witch."

The environment around Ozma changed from the city to a forest as he comes upon a lonely, dilapidated house in the woods.

"During his years of travel, he heard the same frightened whispers that spoke of a terrifying sorceress who commanded dark powers in the wilds among the beasts and monsters. Ozma was convinced that this witch was Salem, and decided he needed to see what she had become."

Ozma stood at a distance from the house. The front door opened, and from the darkness beyond, Salem emerged, wearing black robes this time. She gave an angry glare while exiting the house, but suddenly, her expression softened upon seeing her visitor. Ozma likewise smiles back at her.

"Call it magic or call it something stronger, but in that moment, the two knew exactly who it was that stood before them."

Ozma and Salem walk towards each other, the two held each other's hands, interlocking their fingers affectionately.

"What do we do now?" Ozma asked, I felt a pang of pain in my chest.

"Whatever we like." Salem replied to him.

As time passed, the scene shows the house changing from its dilapidated state to a much better condition, following with Salem and Ozma conversing with one another at a table on the front porch.

"As Salem and Ozma recounted the events which had brought them back together, each withheld parts of their story. Salem, fearing Ozma would reject her, blamed the end of the world on the gods. Ozma, still unsure of where the truth lay, kept his task and the Relics a secret. Though time passed and all seemed well, Ozma's conversation with the God of Light still lingered in his mind. He had found happiness, but humanity seemed more divided than ever before."

Salem and Ozma head back inside the house, still talking to each other.

"Are you surprised? This world is quite literally godless. These humans have no one to guide them. Perhaps that's all they need."

"What are you saying?" Ozma asked.

"We could become the gods of this world. Our powers surpass all others. Our souls transcend death. We can mould these lands into whatever we want, what you want, create the paradise that the old gods could not." I screamed into my hands when Salem said that.

Ozma is troubled at first, but then smiled in agreement with Salem I wanted to slap him so hard. The two of them look each other in the eyes as Salem placed an affectionate hand on Ozma's shoulder.

"The hearts of men... are easily swayed." No shit Sherlock.

"Fuck off Watson." Jinn replied to my thought, intrusive much?

A village is then shown under attack by a Nevermore. Suddenly, a purple energy surrounds the Nevermore, causing to be bent and folded into unnatural positions. The Nevermore disintegrates, and the villagers watch as Ozma, once again wielding his sceptre and wearing regal robes, and Salem levitate into the air side-by-side above them. They all bow down to the couple in reverence. I walked up to two statues of Ozma and Salem that are then erected.

"The two amassed a following. That following grew into a prosperous kingdom."

A castle then appeared, then into a large room with a painting of Ozma and Salem together.

"And at the head of that kingdom blossomed...a family." Jinn continued as four little girls appeared in the painting. OH NO!

Wait he actually stuck his dick in her?

I felt a harsh smack to the back of my head.

Ozma and Salem watched their four daughters playing together, the little girls all wearing colours similar to that of the Four Maidens.

One of their daughters comes up to the two of them, playfully tugging on Salem's robe. The two parents smile at her before smiling at each other. My heart ached as I thought of what might have happened to them.

Blue smoke transitions the scene, showing a massive conflict between people that is being observed inside a crystal ball by Salem.  
Ozma stands a short distance away from her looking outside the window.

"Are we sure this is right?" Ozma asked.

"You said we needed to bring humanity together. In order to do that, we have to spread our word, and destroy those who will deny it." Salem replied.

Ozma gained a shocked expression on his face upon hearing these words. He turned to see his reflection on the window, which suddenly talks to him.

"What are we doing?"

Ozma reeled back in horror seeing his reflection ask him that question before looking over to Salem.

"This isn't what he asked of me..."

"What did you say?"

The two then hear a door open, and their eldest daughter enters the room excitedly.

"Mother, father, look!" The girl cried excitedly.

Their daughter then conjured multi-coloured wisps that fly in circles in front of her. Salem has a proud expression on her face, while Ozma looks on in surprise, before looking down with his troubled expression again.

"It was a miracle their children could perform magic. But what should have been a joyous occasion was short-lived."

Smoke transitions the scene again, this time showing Ozma telling what he knows to Salem in his study.

"Ozma told Salem everything, the true reason the God of Light had brought him back, the Relics that they scattered around the world, and the day of judgment he had been told to prepare for."

Ozma finishes his explanation to Salem.

"Don't you see? None of that matters anymore. Why spend our lives trying to redeem these humans when we can replace them with what they could never be?" Salem said with a smile.

Salem offered her hand out, but Ozma hesitates to take it, backing away in disgust. Smoke transitions the scene again showing Ozma quietly escorting his daughters through the quiet halls. The youngest daughter looks down the hallway, noticing something.

"Mommy?" My blood ran cold when the child spoke up.

Salem stood at the end of the hall menacingly. Ozma protectively stood in front of his daughters. Salem, realizing what he was doing, angrily conjured a red beam from her hand. Ozma used his sceptre to counter Salem's attack, launching a green beam. Their attacks clash, engulfing the area into a bright white flash. I watched in horror as Ozma and Salem fight throughout the castle.

Their battle caused the castle to collapse and be destroyed in the process. A charred plush toy is shown, implying the daughters were killed in the fearsome battle. Ozma weakly crawled on the ground, blood dragging from behind him. Salem then reappeared behind him undamaged thanks to her immortality, and angrily walked over to Ozma. She kicked him over onto his back and held him down with her foot.

"We finally had freedom..."

Ozma weakly looked up at her.

"I-"

A blast of fire from Salem engulfed Ozma, killing him once again.

"Thus, began a long and painful cycle of death and rebirth for Ozma."

A montage of Ozma's various reincarnates are shown, including a frail man weakly walking by many gravestones, followed by a despondent man walking in the rain, who would rather drink his problems away.

"Some lives were spent in mourning, many were spent attempting to forget it all."

Finally, Ozma reincarnated to a dark-skinned man with glasses who started off slouching, but then eventually stands straight up and determinedly walks forward.

"But no matter what, his mind would eventually turn back to the task he had been burdened with."

Ozma's newest reincarnate is shown serving a meal to his wife and two daughters, both of whom interestingly have silver eyes. My jaw dropped at the sight. They were probably ancestors of Summer and Ruby.

"And as the centuries went on, Ozma began to learn the importance of living with the souls with which he had been paired."

Ozma then heard screaming outside. He opened the door and sees villagers running around in panic as Grimm attack.

"But no matter where or how he lived, her presence was always felt."

Ozma looked back to his wife, who nods in understanding, before going out with a mechanized cane into battle.

"If humanity were ever to stand a chance at being united, one thing was clear..."

"He had to destroy Salem..." I said breaking the silence that had befallen me

Smoke then transitions showing Ozma's reincarnate many years older now, tinkering with his cane in his workshop.

"Knowing he could never rid the world of her through any mortal means, Ozma sought out the power of the Relics."

The elderly tinkerer then placed his cane inside a metal cabinet, closing the door on it. The door opened again showing Ozma's newest reincarnate, a well-dressed man, picking up the cane where he last left it in his previous life.

"Armed with my knowledge, he believed he could fulfil his promise to the God of Light."

Ozma is next shown holding the Relic of Knowledge, summoning Jinn for the first time. I took a few deep breaths as my temper began to flair again. Why was I getting so angry all of a sudden?

"Where are the other Relics?" Was his first question.

"He asked me his questions."

"What powers do they possess?" Question two.

"And though I gave him my answers..."

"How do I destroy Salem?" There's question three.

"...not all of them were to his liking." She confessed.

I watched as Jinn gave her answer to Ozma.

"You can't." Great so I'm stuck with her forever too? FUCKING BRILLIANT!

Upon hearing this, Ozma fell to his knees in despair, the world disappeared, the question Ruby asked had been answered, I turned to face Ozpin, who lowers his head in sadness as the snow falls once again.

I took the crystals from my pocket, I took off my glove and stabbed them into my flesh.

It's nice to have you three here for me again...


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 So that's how it is

"Salem can't be killed... you all heard her too, right?" Yang asked as they all turned to Ozpin, I tried to steady my shaking breath.

"I-" He begun.

"There was so much you hadn't told us! How could you think that was okay?!" Yang screamed at him, I let my head hang as I felt the tears form in my eyes, I had felt betrayed before but not like this... This man I had put so much trust into...

"Professor... What is your plan to defeat Salem?" Ruby asked.

"I... don't have one..." I turned to face him when I heard his body collide with a tree, tears streaked my cheeks, my ears flattened against my skull.

"No one wanted me... I was cursed... I gave my life to you because you gave me a place in this world... I thought I was finally doing some good..." Qrow said but Ozpin's eyes were focused on me.

"Silver?" He said as I pushed past Qrow.

"You gave me a home... You gave me a purpose... you could have thrown me to the wolves after I lost my mind to the red haze so many times... I'm done, have fun with the others." I told them as I let the first one out of their gates.

(Ice's POV)  
Silver just seemed to break down before our eyes, her hands curling into fists, teeth grinding against each other. A burning red light of hate coming from her once clear blue eyes. Red Silver or as she dubbed them Wrath, was free.

Wrath yelled in anger, she charged and grabbed Ozpin slamming him hard against the tree.

"You hurt Silver! She trusted you with her life!" They screamed before tagging out, the eyes turned from burning red to calm yellow, Logic was here.

"Do you think that she will ever trust you again?!" Logic snapped.

"Give us one good reason to leave your throat intact!" Instinct the green Silver snarled.

"Or to leave the skin on your body!" Ink cried out blackened tears dripping down her face.

"Your soul reeks of Guilt, stained with the blood of innocent people you had a hand in training and sending to their deaths!" Venge the fiery Silver growled at him.

"That's enough!" I yelled, Venge turned to look at me and bared her teeth.

"Fine..." Was all she said, dropping him and marching off into the wilderness.

"Do NOT follow us..."

Marching through the snow Venge just disappeared.

(Silver's POV)

"It's okay Silver, we're all hurting, go ahead and let it out." Venge sighed pulling our knees up to our chest and crossing our arms on our knees, with that I broke down, it was strange to just cry inside while another being kept us alert and ready in case of the Grimm hearing me.

I have no idea how long I spent out there but by time I was calmer I realised I had been given back control, the sobbing caught in my throat and the tears continued to fall I felt the horrific chill I tried my best to keep it inside but my cries escaped anyway.

There was a loud bang that shocked me enough to look up. It was Ice, I only scowled and wiped my tears on my sleeve not speaking a word to him.

"I'm sure this has come to a shock to you but remember you're immortal too, if it's possible for you then Salem being immortal came as no surprise to me." He sighed giving me a glare to match his name as he holstered the gun.

"Fuck off... I was lied to, Oz was like a father to me and he lied to me... to us for fuck sake, do you really think this shit is even worth it anymore?" I growled at him.

"If we can save those who need us then I believe so, I don't give a shit if we can't beat Salem anymore, our job is to protect people, if you give up now think about how many people could die that we could've saved!" He yelled at me.

"Shut up! DO you fucking hear yourself? How the fuck are we supposed to protect people when one: The Grimm have a leader. Two: The kingdoms are on the brink of war. Three: Humans are blaming Faunus, not just the White Fang but ALL Faunus including us for what happened at Beacon and Haven. Finally, four: Ozpin, the man we once would happily fight a war for, told us he doesn't have a fucking plan AND LEFT US!" I screamed right back, getting on my feet tears streaming down my face again.

"For starters, you haven't read the news about how the Faunus stopped an attack in Haven and had been praised for doing so, The Grimm has a leader, same as us Huntsman we have leaders too. Immortal? Lock em up for eternity! Plus, just because Oz left us doesn't mean we have no purpose anymore we become our own leaders now and if you can't do that then look for someone else to rely on!" Ice told me trying his best to put confidence back into me.

"Ice... Just... leave me alone... I don't want to hear it." I whimpered going back down to curl up in the snow again.

"Come on, it's cold and right now we need to find shelter for everyone, can't have them freezing to death, we can continue this later" He sighed patting my shoulder, I sighed and got up and followed with a couple of feet of distance between us.

"Oh, good you found her." Cole said but there was a silence as he noticed I wasn't really looking up. Neo crashed into me her eyes wet with tears as she gripped my jacket. We returned to the train crash and I saw a tire track, probably from Yang's bike, and hoof tracks from Grimmgash.

We followed the tracks soon catching up with team RWBY in front of a metal gate looking up at a sign saying "Brunswick Farm" I stepped up beside them.

"Well, at least one good thing happened today." Blake said.

"It looks abandoned." Weiss replied.

"It's still better than this." Said Ruby.

"Come on, I think we could all use some rest." Qrow said holding the gate open for us.

As I walked past, he grabbed my shoulder.

"You feeling alright? You kinda lost it back there, and you look a little paler even now."

"Yeah I'm fine, just need some food and sleep." I told him walking by.

I heard the gate close behind us.

I reached a hand into my pocket and felt the velvet box I was keeping in there. I looked to Neo and swallowed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Wolf: *Unholy hacking and coughing***

**Tiger: Chest infection?**

**Wolf: RAGING! **

**Tiger: keep it to yourself**

Chapter 5 The Coming Storm

As the blizzard raged on, we came up to the front door of the main building to this "farm" I folded my ears back and pulled my hood up to keep snow from going inside of them. Neo huddled closer to me for warmth as we came to the door.

"I don't get it. The empty towns I've passed through were all damaged or unfinished. But this place looks... fine." Ruby sighed as we took shelter under the porch, Cole looked back through the snow to make sure that no Grimm had followed us.

"Maybe everyone left in a hurry. Before things took a turn?" Weiss said, her teeth chattering as she held herself to try and keep warm, Qrow went to try the doorknob only to find it was locked.

"Hmm. Stay on guard." He told us, I pulled Neo into my coat and drew my gun. He soon booted the door open and we all ran in weapons drawn, I was quick to check through the different doors.

"Downstairs clear!" I called back to the others.

"Close the door already! It's cold enough as it is!" Maria as she walked in, I holstered my gun and began to look around. Oscar and Blake pushed a drawer in front of the door.

"I saw a chimney from the outside. Maybe we could get a fire going?" Blake said.

"That sounds good." Cole said placing his broadsword by the door and taking his boots off.

"Please, I'll look for some blankets." Weiss smiled.

"Yang go with her." Qrow said, the blonde brawler nodded and followed her friend upstairs.

"Looks like a study. Or, a library?" I heard Oscar say, I wandered into one of the back rooms hoping to find something we could have to eat, our supplies were low enough as it was all we had were the clothes on our backs, some dust bullets and our weapons so having a good supply of food on us was out of the question.

My fingers brushed against the empty shelves, when a hand landed on my shoulder. Turning swiftly, I held my new axe against Cole's throat.

"Good reflexes." He said as I let him go.

"Sorry I'm a bit jumpy." He only chuckled.

"Yeah I can tell. Your buddy Ice gave me the run down on how you would react to certain things." He replied.

"The main reason I wanted to talked to you was because I couldn't help but notice your emblem on the back of your jacket, it looks similar to mine." He said taking off his jacket to show me his.

His emblem was a Beowolf, chasing the sun in the clockwise direction, it's maw wide open as if ready to devour it. Mine was similar but the Beowolf was chasing the shattered moon and was heading anti-clockwise.

"My dad was a man named Lye Chalk, my mother was Raikou Charcoal." My heart fluttered in my chest.

"My dad was named Micheal Angelo and my mother was also Raikou Charcoal..." I said, the realisation hit us instantly before I had even finished my sentence, no wonder he smelt so familiar.

Just before we could say anything else, we heard a loud high pitch scream, I leapt into action, axe in hand I burst into an upstairs room where the others stood in shock. A couple laid in the bed, their skin a sickly green and decomposing.

"Dead for at least three months." I growled covered my nose and mouth, coughing hard I left the room.

We sat in the library, the fire crackling and my coughing just got worse. Neo sat beside me, worried about my health.

"I'll be fine." I told her holding back a few splutters.

"It's the same in every house." Qrow said walking up to us.

"What?" Yang asked.

"Bodies. Every bed in every home. It's like the whole estate just went to sleep and never woke up." Qrow told her kneeling down by Weiss to warm his hands by the fire.

"Then we're not staying here, right?" Weiss asked I rolled my eyes.

"We've got no choice, we'd freeze to death out there." Cole said sitting on the sofa with a sigh.

"Well, might as well get comfortable." Maria said getting up to walk over to the bookcase.

"Yeah, fat chance." Yang huffed.

"Okay, then, let's do something. If this place wasn't abandoned it might still have supplies, we could use." Ruby smiled getting up.

"Hey, yeah. Maybe even a car." Oscar joked.

"I'll do another sweep of the grounds. No one else goes anywhere alone." Qrow said, Cole got up on his feet to go join him.

"Yang and I can search the other buildings for vehicles." Blake smiled.

"I'm going with them." I said getting up and coughing again.

"Need to find something Grimmgash can pull so no one is walking."

"Fine, whatever gets me out of this house." Yang growled with annoyance.

As Yang, Blake and I leave, Ruby moved the chest of draws so we could get back in if needed.

We marched through the snowstorm into a barn, as we entered and shoved the doors shut, I looked about seeing the shelving units that I could build a carriage out of, along with a bunch of spare parts, tools and a tractor, I could salvage some pieces from it.

"Something tells me that's not street legal." Blake said looking at the tractor, I snorted at her joke and began to take apart some of the shelves to start making the carriage I needed. Using Venge's fire to heat up the metal bars to bend them and weld them together.

"What do you think happened here?" Yang asked as I began to size up the planks of wood and split a couple of them with my axe.

"There's that well in the square. Maybe water contamination?" Blake replied.

"I hope not, I'm getting thirsty and I don't want to wait for some snow in a bottle to melt." I called over hearing Blake laugh.

"Hey, are you okay?" I heard Blake ask.

"Yeah... I mean, no. But I don't know. I'm just tired." Yang replied.

"Yeah." Blake replied.

"You think you're tired I just found out I had a half-brother." I mumbled to myself.

"Hey, I found something!" Yang called then gasped from something.

"What is it?" Blake asked.

"I..." Yang begun but never finished.

"I was just seeing things. I'm sorry. I still get flashes from that night." She told her partner.

"Do you think Adam's still out there?" Blake asked.

"I don't know. If he went back to the White Fang there would have been serious consequences. But he never really liked people telling him what to do. Adam's strong, but his real power comes from control. He used to get in my head, make me feel small. But now I see he just wanted to pull me down to his size." Blake explained.

"Hey, I'm not leaving. And if we ever see him again, I promise I'll be there."

"And I'll protect you." Blake finished.

"What?" Yang asked with a bit of anger in her tone.

"What?" Blake asked obliviously.

"Forget it. Let's just head back." Yang said as I tightened the last bolt holding the makeshift carriage together.

"But what about-"

"We're fine. We can hook that flatbed up to Bumblebee in the morning. Should carry most of us, Silver's made another one which should carry the rest of the group. Mission accomplished." Yang said marching away.

"It's okay Blake, I know you meant to say that you'd protect her like she protected you." I told the black cat, she gave me a smile which soon faded as I doubled over falling into a coughing fit.

"Silver are you alright?" Blake asked rubbing my back.

"I'd be lying if I said yes, I've got a weaker immune system than everyone else, always got sick easily in cold weather, the dust and the decomposing bodies didn't help much either." I choked as we left the barn following Yang back to the main house.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 Alone in the woods

I laid back, wrapped up in a blanket my coughing had gotten better now that I was in the warmth, Neo was nuzzled up beside me as we watched the fire crackle. Neo grasped my hand as she closed her eyes to rest.

My ears flicked as I looked around, Ice and Naniele had already fallen asleep together, Oscar was pacing and Maria was reading through a book, I'm guessing it's a type of journal due to the untitled covered and the few other.

"It's a diary?" Oscar asked.

"The head of this household, Bartleby. Apparently, he and several other families founded this little settlement to try and live on their own. It sounds like it worked, at least for a spell." Maria explained.

"Grimm?" Oscar continued noticing I was taking interest in the conversation.

"Just one of many hardships. Slowed down their farming, made everything harder... It's a shame, really. He seemed like quite the ambitious fellow, always thinking of new schemes to overcome the odds." She said as she continued to read through the book.

"Hey guys. Qrow said we should get some sleep. We're gonna head out early tomorrow." Ruby said as she walked into the room, I moved the blanket so that it would wrap around both me and Neo.

"Thank goodness." Blake said as everyone began to move to get into a better sleeping position.

"Hmph, the last thing you'll catch me doing is letting some kid tell me what to do." Maria mumbled. "Go to bed." She mocked making me chuckle.

"Silver, you should too." She told me.

"Yeah... I don't have my medication for that, used to then the problem at Beacon happened." I sighed getting comfortable.

I sat quietly watching the fire throughout the night, my eyes drifting close but the rest of my body was fully aware, each change in smell and new sound was noted. By time I heard someone wake up, every joint in my body was stiff almost as if I had been sat there for a few years.

I raised my head and looked at Ruby as she opened the curtains, I hissed at the sudden bright light.

"Close the window..." Weiss groaned I blinked to get used to the light, I wriggled a little to wake Neo up but she just gripped my jacket tighter unwilling to get up.

"Sweetheart I need to stretch, if you don't get up, I will throw you into the snow." I told her as I slowly got up, my knees creaking and clicking as I got up on my feet, I stretched my arms over my head and yawned.

"I think that's the best sleep I'll get before we get to Argus." I smiled picking up Neo and heading outside soon dropping her into a big pile of snow.

"I told you." I smiled before going in and doing the same with Ice and Naniele, though something about them seemed off, the way they slouched and just didn't seem all that bothered about the task at hand as I hooked Grimmgash to the trailer I made from the shelving units and pieces of the tractor.

"Can we just go back to bed?" Oscar asked, I scowled to myself hearing that.

"If we're all so tired, maybe we should make breakfast?" Blake replied.

"You wanna make it?"

"Not really." Their back to forth conversation ended there.

"You guys got the bike ready?" Ruby asked, it seemed only me and Ruby are the ones actually feeling good this morning.

"Well, it's done now. So, let's hook this thing up and-" There was a sudden bang, I snapped around to see that the tire on their flatbed trailer had blown. I sighed in relief.

"You people are just beacons for bad luck, aren't you?" Maria said I sighed.

"Don't remind us." I called over.

"So, whose sitting in which?" Cole asked, his pupils unusually dilated, something was off with everyone, now that I looked to find that the rest of my team, RWBY and Oscar also having unusually dilated eyes.

"You'll ride with us." I told him as I fitted the reigns on Grimmgash.

"I'm starting to think the universe just doesn't want us getting to Atlas." Yang said, I threw the reigns onto the little bench the driver would sit on and walked over.

"It's just a flat tire, I'm sure there's a spare." Ruby told her.

"Or a way to fix it." I said.

"It's not just that, it's everything. Storms, crashes, monsters..." Yang sighed. "I'm so tired..." She said.

"Me too. It feels like we're always having to fight to get by." Blake said I blinked in disbelief.

"Yeah. But that's what we signed up for." Ruby explained.

"We signed up to try and save the world, not just... delay the inevitable." Oscar told her.

"Last night, I..." Weiss slipped an arm around herself. "why are we even going to Atlas?"

"Weiss, we have to." Ruby told her but everyone held the same troubled look.

"Why? Ozpin hid the Relics behind giant doors under enormous schools, but... how long would it take Salem to find a lamp in the middle of nowhere?" Yang argued.

_**NO DON'T LET THEM LOSE IT**_

I heard the voices in my head scream.

"What? The Grimm might-"

"They'd find it eventually, sure, but bury it or just throw it down the well, it would take years. It might not even happen in our lifetime. But we could be done with it now." Yang told her baby sister.

Ruby removed the lamp from her belt glancing at it then at her teammates, my heart leapt into my throat as she held it out over the dark well.

"I am... really... tired..." She muttered I tensed up ready to tackle her and hopefully get a hold of the relic, luckily, she hesitated and began to pull the relic away, something must have spooked her as she dropped the lamp.

"NO!" I screamed jumping down after it.

"Silver!" I heard Ice yell as I disappeared down into the depths.

Just then a new scent hit my nose, overpowering the scent of the damp rocks...

Grimm.

Quickly getting to my feet and shaking the water off, I trudged through the cold waters growling softly to myself as I followed the slightly moving water until I saw a blue glow, jogging the best I could over I picked up the relic.

Looking up I felt my heart freeze. Multiple humanoid-looking Grimm of different sizes are bunched together. Some tall some hunched over, all of them probably the same type of Grimm, they didn't pay any mind to me as I moved away, now carrying the relic by the handle I snuck away, often looking back to make sure they weren't following me. I quickly unhooked my axe upon hearing footsteps.

"Silver, you've got the relic?" It was Ruby

I then looked over hearing the snapping as the creatures looked over and began moving, I quickly turned on my heels and backed up to give them the relic. As they moved into the view of team RWBY they let out an ear-piercing scream. I only howled in pain while everyone just hunched over.

"What is this...?" Yang asked.

"My weapon... feels heavy..." Blake said, my eyes widened. I ran over to them, gave Ruby the relic and nudged them all to start moving.

I then saw Ice and Neo was bringing up the rear.

"Shit..." Ice groaned I felt my throat go dry.

"Run!" Maria yelled as she came from behind the team.

"Now!" With that they followed Maria, I turned to face the Grimm, standing at my full height I swing with my axe, the edge easily slicing through them but there were far too many, I continued to back up trying to keep them at bay.

The apathy stared at me and screeched again almost as if they were also confused on why it didn't affect me.

"Trust me, I'm confused to." I told them as I continued hacking away. I soon realised that this was hopeless as more and more just kept appearing. I turned tail and ran trying to find my team, my heart racing at the thought of how these things would affect my friends.

Suddenly I came to an opening into a wine cellar.

"Silver!" Ice smiled but it didn't last long as there was a scream, a clatter and a thump, turning I saw that the Grimm had caught up and Blake was on the ground. Unhooking my axe, I threw it with all my might making one jolt backwards forcing a few more to stop. I then looked over to see Ice laid lifelessly on the floor and Neo up against a few barrels her eyes slowly closing.

I screamed and it just happened, the haze returned sending me into a fit of blind rage. I don't remember much, just the feeling of my fingers digging into something soft and tearing it.

"Blake!" Ruby screamed there was a bright silver flash and a horrific burning sensation on my back, it had knocked me from my blind rage and brought me back to what was happening.

I cried out falling to my knees the backs of my arms were slightly smoking through my clothes.

"I've got her!" Ruby called as she dragged Blake away, I got up and shook myself before glaring angrily at the Grimm. My arms shifted into the Fenrir Gauntlets and grabbed my axe ready to unleash hell.

"What just happened?" Maria asked.

"They're locked!" Weiss cried out.

"Out of my way!" Yang yelled, but was stopped when the Grimm recovered and screamed once again.

I couldn't help but watch as my two teammates fell to the ground their bodies giving up, I turned back and screamed again this time with an axe in hand I began dispatching apathy after apathy but there was still too many to count.

"Ruby... what colour are your eyes?" Maria asked.

"They're... silver..." She replied.

"You have a family? Friends?"

"What?" I turned to see Ruby look up at me and the other creatures.

"Don't think about them. Think about the people who love you. Focus on the thought of them, the way they make you feel. Focus!" Maria told her, I swung again slashing a few more but I was being forced back.

"Life... is beautiful. It is precious. And it must... be protected." With that there was a blinding silver light. I opened my maw to let out a shrill cry of agony. Falling to the ground I suddenly heard the cellar doors open and everyone moving in a panic.

"I've got her!" I heard Ice yell as I felt him pick me up and move to where I guess was towards the door.

"Uncle Qrow get up!" Ruby cried, her voice was muffled and was nearly drowned out by the ringing in my ears.

All of a sudden, I felt myself being dropped into a cold pile. With a whimper I curled up on myself just wanting to hide away in the snow.

"Come one we're leaving. Ice you know how to drive that thing?" Cole yelled over as the ringing ended.

"Come on baby sis I've got you." It was Cole this time.

"I'm... not a... baby." My words were slurred and I hissed when I felt someone touch my face.

"I've got some aloe we can use on those." Cole said as I was laid on the flatbed that I made, turning my head I saw the main house now filled with fire.

Closing my eyes, I heard the revving of Yang's bike and the cracking of the reigns.

I sat up with the help of Cole, Neo and Naniele and felt my coat being removed along with my vest and over shirt. Rolling me onto my front I felt Neo's small hands rub something over the burns on my back, arms and face.

"What the hell were those things?" Ice yelled.

"The Apathy. They're not strong or ferocious. They drain your will to go on. Bartleby's estate was haemorrhaging money towards the end. He wanted to cut costs on Huntsman protection, but in order to do that, he needed everyone calm... always." Maria explained as Oscar read from the journal.

"Managed to get two away from their pack. Hike back was miserable, but got the bastards in the cellar. Wife thinks I was out sealing the waterway entrance. I'll do it tomorrow and tell her the truth once these things take the edge off of everyone. I'm tired." Oscar read out.

"The next page proves that he did, but not before the rest of the pack followed their missing pair all the way home. My guess is they made their way beneath the estate through the water tunnels that Bartleby sealed up the next morning. Bartleby's plan worked. No one was angry or sad or scared. No one was anything. And then... no one was left." She said taking the book from Oscar and then chucking it into the snow.

"I'm... sorry for what I said... about giving up." Weiss said. Grimmgash snorted as he came to a stop.

"Me too. We can't quit until the lamp is safe." Yang said.

"It's not your fault. It was those... things."

"I should have known. The signs were all there, but I'd never seen an entire settlement withered away like that. I suppose my mind just isn't what it used to be." Maria said to them.

"Hey, I lost a teammate to those things, he was like a brother to me... I should have noticed the signs as soon as I woke up, that feeling of dread that just saps away your will to pick yourself up and start the day..." Cole said, I slowly sat up to let Neo check my chest over for any of those burns.

"Miss Calavera? How do you know so much about the Grimm? And in the tunnels, you knew exactly what to say to make me... to make my eyes do that. How?" Ruby asked.

"Well, isn't it obvious, girl? I had Silver Eyes. But one thing I want to know, is how were you immune to the apathy effect?" She said pointing at me with her cane.

"Jinn said something about a Grimm Shifter with their mortal face still intact." I then spread my arms out.

"I am the Grimm Shifter, with their mortal face still intact... well for the most part." I smiled rubbing the healing burns on my face.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 The Grimm reaper and the Hangman

I kept my eyes steady on the road ahead, the leather of the reigns cut into my hands each time I tightened my grip, I kept my mouth shut as Maria told us about a day in her youth, more importantly the day she lost her silver eyes.

I didn't let the tale get to me much as Grimmgash galloped beside Yang, my burns had healed well thanks to Cole having a bottle of aloe Vera on hand. My heart was racing in my chest knowing full well that I would be bombarded with questions as soon as they had finished with Maria.

I looked back at my team, Ice gave me a reassuring nod, Naniele was leaning over the edge of the carriage listening intently to Maria, Neo was watching the trees go by, I felt my mouth go dry upon thinking of when I'd bring the box out for her.

"But I wasn't... I went into hiding soon after." Maria sighed to herself, her story coming to an end.

"I can't believe it. You... You're the Grimm Reaper, you were a legend! And then you disappeared..." Qrow said shocked at the revelation.

"How exactly does a legend just disappear?" Oscar asked.

"You never used your name, never showed your face. Lots of us thought you were just layin' low. Eventually, we just came to accept that you were probably dead. But the stories about you, I based my weapon off of yours. I wanted to be as good as the Grimm Reaper." Qrow explained.

"Well, I'm nothing but a disappointment, so you're well on your way." Maria told him.

"How can you say that?" Blake told her.

"Child, a Huntress is supposed to protect others to the bitter end. But after I lost my eyes, I only ever looked after myself. Even after my surgery, I was too afraid to fight. Afraid someone would find me again, finish what the others started. You shouldn't aspire to be like me, especially when some of you are clearly stronger already." Maria explained to them I felt my heart drop.

"It's... comforting, seeing that your generation seems up to the task of inheriting this world. I'm just sorry I didn't do more to leave it in better shape." She continued.

"Well, maybe you can do something now. Teach me to use my powers the way you did." Ruby smiled.

"Yang stop." I said suddenly.

"Uh... okay?" She said as we both slowed to a halt.

"Back in Vale, there was word of a vigilante known as The Hangman, they didn't bother with Grimm and decided to instead deal with criminals, terrorists and even petty thieves without mercy. Only those deranged enough continued to commit crimes while the Hangman's influence was so strong, then during the fall, people expected the Hangman to appear and deal with the ones who started this, but they didn't... as if they never even existed." I explained my story hopping down and walking around the carriage.

"And do you know what the worst part about it was?" I said.

"What?" Ruby piped up.

"They did try to save Vale, they did try to stop the ones responsible, and they failed, they got burnt up and turned into a monster, and guess who that unlucky bastard was." I sighed squeezing my eyes shut at the memories of that scorching pain while my hands absentmindedly tied a hangman's knot. I then hung it around Grimmgash's neck tangling the rest of the length up in his antlers for another day.

"I had a short reign but hey, I made it a good one, I could make a noose out of anything you gave me, rope, chains, a lead pipe, hell my favourite material was their small intestines." I smiled going back to my seat. Sitting on the wooden bench I pulled a box of cigarettes out of my coat and quickly lit one for myself.

"Any questions?" All was silent, I could feel their eyes on me, I took a long drag to help take the edge off, I then checked the box and saw that it was empty.

We all turned at the sound of Ruby's gasp.

"It's Sky!" She cried in excitement.

"How?" Weiss asked.

"Who cares answer!" I called.

"Uh... Hello?" She started.

"Ruby! Oh, thank you! I've been checking my Scroll for your signal since we made it to the city!" Sky cried from the loudspeaker.

"The city? Wait..." we looked ahead and from the sound of Yang's bike revving I cracked the reigns and we charged up the hill and across the horizon there it stood.

Argus

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived in Argus." Yang smiled.

When we arrived Yang and I locked up our flatbed carriages and what towed them in a garage I began to repeat the code in my head but ended up writing it on my forearm.

As we walked through the city taking in the surroundings, I kept rubbing the velvet box not really paying attention.

"RUBY!" Sky yelled running up to hug her weapon nut friend.

"Are you guys okay?" Jet smiled as he and Ice shook hands.

"Yeah, we're fine, nothing to worry about." I told them.

"It was a bit of a rough trip though." Yang smiled.

"That's a bit of an understatement." Weiss said I sighed.

"Who are your new friends?" Sky smiled.

"You guys are going to love this place, though it might be a bit crowded for Silver's liking." Sky smiled as we all moved in a group.

"I'll be fine, it's not that bad." I smiled as I squeezed Neo's hand a little.

We decided on hopping on a trolley that would get us closer to where ever they were staying.

"It's a lot bigger than I thought it'd be." Yang said.

"It's actually one of the largest non-capital cities in all of Remnant." Sky told her.

"No way! But wait, wouldn't it be harder to settle something this big away from the main Kingdom?" Ruby asked.

"Well, it was, until Mantle showed up. Early settlement attempts by Mistral didn't go well. But colonists from Mantle were able to help them brave the cold climate and return for goods that Solitas couldn't provide." Jet explained.

"The two nations worked together to create a hybrid city. While it falls under Mistral domain, Atlas keeps a military presence here to help keep the people safe and keep trade between the two nations steady." Sky continued, they really had been reading up about this place.

"Well, until recently..." Ray sighed as we came to our stop and hopped off.

"We should probably start looking for a ship." Blake suggested.

"So, where have you guys been staying?" Oscar asked Jet.

"Well I met this stranger who bought a few pieces from me and gave us a place to stay, there's a tonne of space and even a gym." Jet explained pulling a key out of his pocket and leading us to a warehouse.

"She converted it into a huge house, she said she'll swing by every now and again to check on us, bring some extra supplies, things like that." He smiled opening the door for us. Walking in we couldn't help but marvel at the size of the room.

However, my eyes soon fell on the black and white ball of fluff sleeping on the sofa, his front paws held out with some Lien in between them and a note.

"Heathen." I called, the cat raised his head, he let go of the Lien and ran over to rub around my ankles.

"Hey buddy. I've missed you too." I chuckled picking him up to give him a cuddle.

"Huh, she must have been and noticed we were out so left us some money for takeout." Sky smiled going over to pick up the mess.

"So, who was this mysterious stranger helping you three out?" Maria asked.

"She didn't give us her real name and she always wore a mask, told us the name she went by was Fenrir." Jet told us I froze feeling a shiver run down my spine at that name.

"Hey Silver, I'm guessing this fell out of your pocket." Ruby said picking up the velvet box. Neo looked over and I sighed.

"Well, better now than never." I said taking the box, I turned to Neo and went down on one knee, everyone gasped at what was about to happen.

"Neo, we've been through a lot of shit, hell I tried to kill you at one point and yet, no matter what you were always there for me, the day I nearly died at Beacon, you stayed right by my side... And I'm droning on again, sorry I'm so nervous." I chuckled opening the box to show her they pure silver ring with two aquamarine stones and a single rose quartz jewel embedded in the top.

"Will you marry me?" I chuckled Neo looked on the verge of tears and practically jumped onto me in joy.

Everyone laughed at this as Neo slipped the ring on.

"Ice take notes." I joked as he and Naniele applauded us.

Jet, Sky and Ray were catching us up with what had happened and Cole and I haven't told the others that we're related so we're just keeping with the story that he was with Maria in the back carriage with Bumblebee and Grimmgash.

Neo sat on the sofa and had cuddled up to me the group were still surprised at how I had managed to afford the ring let alone the fact that it was a custom ring.

After we had all caught up and explanations had been given another pressing matter came to mind as we began talking about the person who was letting the trio live in this converted warehouse for free.

"What is a Grimm Shifter anyways? I've never heard of them before." Weiss asked as we fell into silence upon choosing what takeout to get.

"Stories go that Grimm Shifters have the ability to hide amongst humans and Faunus but transform into a Grimm once the sun goes down. Or at least that's what Uncle Qrow would tell us." Yang replied, I felt eyes bore into me.

"Well you're not wrong, Grimm Shifters are people who can change into a Grimm, however the origin is a bit more well... If you have a burning hatred for anything, as in so much so that you would show glee in destroying it then as time goes on, you will just get worse and eventually your body corrupts itself to be more Grimm like." I started.

"I lost the ability to make aura at age 10 I believe, I kept my right arm hidden for so long and still do just in case, all because I was scared that someone would try and kill me. I didn't even have to meet Salem to unlock it, we were at the Vytal tournament the first time it had happened, team rounds I got pulled aside by Ozpin and Ironwood after the match. I don't use it much but it does allow me to sneak through Grimm since I now smell like them."

"Wait does that mean I-" Ruby began.

"Yes, your silver eyes work on me." I interrupted she gasped upon realising that she was the one responsible for the condition they had found me in after defeating Hades.

"What do you turn into?" Blake asked.

"An Alpha Beowolf though I would have preferred something that could fly, started building my own pack and everything, then the fall happened, I was used to craft Hades a Grimm soldier who was tasked with capturing Ruby and dragging her back to Salem... Didn't end well for me each time I tried."

"Can we see it?"

"Oh no, not again, not after the first time." Ray yelled.

"For once, I'm with Ray, after Ruby and Qrow killed that Sphynx Grimm I've been feeling kinda weird." I told them.

"Maybe once we've eaten but don't get your hopes up. I'm gonna go change, been in these clothes for too long." I growled getting up.

"Sure, you and Neo are in the fourth room on your left." Jet called pointing down a corridor, I nodded and along with Neo left to get into our sleep wear.

When we returned, I got a sudden pain, almost as if I had been shot in the gut with fire dust. With a hand on my chest I began to cough as the pain spread along my veins. I remember this sensation, this was what happened the first time. The ringing in my ears made it near impossible to hear the others. My vision blurred and I slipped into the back of my own mind.

**Perspective change (Neo)**

Silver clenched her teeth to avoid screaming, we all watched in fear as Silver's body stretched out, her skin tearing to reveal the muscle beneath as her body changed. The skin on her face peeled and retreated to reveal her skull as that too began to grow into the tell-tale snout of a Beowolf.

Silver's Beowolf form once easily stood seven feet tall but now she looked taller even if she was crouched. A thick heavy looking pelt of black fur covered the now grey skin, long sharp claws, ivory vambraces the left covered in spike the right with a large curved blade attached.

We all seemed to hide on the sofa as if it would be out greatest protector. Large spikes shot from her shoulders and extra growing around her usual spines going along her back, thick bone grew on her legs as armour.

Burning red eyes opened filling the once empty eye sockets with light. Silver gave off a soft sigh as the red light turned bright blue her black fur returning to her usual silver coat. I heard many gasps at just how majestic Silver looked.

"Silver..." Weiss began as team RWBY got up to get a closer look.

Silver's claws clicked against the floor as she stepped up to RWBY their hands soon dug into the fur, they began to admire their friend Silver only yawned and lowered herself down onto all fours the blade of her right vambrace retracting so not to harm them.

Silver now laid between all of us getting a lot of attention about her fluffy form. She hadn't turned back since her pyjamas laid torn to shreds on the floor. I'd have to go and get her some more.

"Just like a giant puppy!" Ruby smiled scratching behind Silver's ear. Ray was hiding behind Sky who was busy trying to hold the wagging tail still to brush it. It was funny to watch everyone throw all training out the window when their friend turned into a monster they've trained to kill.

Maria was cautious but soon came around to the giant Grimm when the food came and the delivery guy got scared off seeing Silver so we got free food that night. We left some slices for Fenrir for when they got back, whenever that would be.

**New Perspective (Fenrir)**

It was about 2AM when I returned from work, these long shifts will be the death of me.

Looking around the room I noticed that there was a pizza box left on the sofa, I of course looked inside and saw that the kids had saved me six slices of pizza, it was still warm surprisingly.

I moved the box to the kitchen counter and went to go check the rooms, first were the rooms that Sky and Jet were using, I liked the two engineers they knew when to stop talking, not like that blonde egomaniac. I sighed softly seeing that both of them were in their beds, for once I wouldn't have to sneak around their room to drag them into bed.

I checked on Ray –who was in the same room as Sky- seeing that she was still breathing was enough for me. I then looked in another room and scowled to myself seeing two girls one with black and red hair and another with white, what was this girl doing with a Schnee? Another room yielded another pair of girls, one with long black hair and cat ears, the other had a thick blonde mane.

Nodding to myself realising that this was the team RWBY Sky had spoken fondly about, a team that had survived the fall of Beacon. The next room I saw a boy, about two years younger than the others I spotted a cane leaning against the wall, I quickly left the room to think him over.

I then found a boy with a tanned complexion, icy blue hair and stripes on his face cuddling a girl with pink hair I nodded softly to myself when I saw their weapons against the end of their bed. An older man with black slick back hair and a thick scent of alcohol was in another room, in another bed pushed to the other side of the room I saw him, a young man with short black hair, a broad sword laid close to his bed. There were only two rooms left not counting mine.

In one was an elderly woman, her cane looked familiar to me.

The last room I saw a girl with pink, brown and white hair, she looked cute. But her current cuddling partner had me concerned. Short silver hair and a torn wolf ear, I took a deep breath to try and catch their scents, my eyes widened and I quickly but quietly left.

I entered my room and changed from my black coat, dark grey jeans and boots into my sleep wear which was just a pair of loose fluffy trousers and a tank top.

I kept my mask in hand in case one of them woke up.

Walking back through the long corridor of my home back into my kitchen/living space. On the counter laying on the box containing my share of the pizza laid the black and white cat I had become very acquainted to.

Heathen purred as I ran my fingers through his thick soft fur.

"I have to admit, I never thought I'd be a cat person, ironically." I chucked to him as he moved to sit in front of me. I took out a slice and began to make myself a drink. He only purred in response.

"I don' know the story behind your missing leg but I'm sure I'll get that story tomorrow before I go to work." I began to chuckle to myself.

"What am I doing? I'm stood here eating barely warm pizza and talking to a giant cat." I smiled finishing the slice, my own ear flicked around catching the sound of light footsteps, I quickly pulled on my mask and sighed to myself adding milk to my tea.

"What are you doing up?" I asked not turning to the newcomer.

"Can't sleep." It was a male voice.

"So, it would seem. What's your name?"

"Ice Skyark." He replied.

"What team and academy?" I said as I finish my drink with a couple of teaspoons of sugar.

"SINN and Beacon, anything else?" He asked.

"Just the name of your leader and what a large group of "Beacon Students" are doing here in Argus." I said turning to face him, my eyes locked onto his tail first, a blue tiger Faunus, his eyes seemed to be a cobalt blue but in this low lightning I could be completely wrong.

"You're not making this easy, Silver is the leader and there are several teams here, we are on a trip attempting to get to Atlas" He told me.

"Sure... With what happened to your school, I know there is more to the story, but instead why don't you tell me about your team, I've learned a lot about your friends in RWBY but the three don't seem to like to talk about your team in detail."

"There's a reason why we don't, I won't just tell anyone, even if they know about the others." He told me, smart boy.

"I'll admit, you're smart, military smart, Beacon didn't teach their students like that, meaning you've got some first-hand real-life experience, I respect that. Drink?" I offered smiling under my mask.

"Uhhh... Right... Sure as long as it's not alcohol." He replied coming up to the counter and petting Heathen.

"Don't worry, I don't drink, especially not before bed, these long hours of huntress patrolling keep me from enjoying some proper ale, is tea alright?" I told him setting the kettle to boil again.

"That's fine thank you." He smiled as I filled another mug.

"The only details I got about your team relationships is that you and your leader are quite close, almost like siblings. So, what's the story behind your team? A group of teenaged criminals taken pity upon by the now deceased Ozpin? Outcasts looking for a place to belong?" I chuckled to myself as I recalled the stories, I had heard during my own days at a Huntsman academy.

"If you want to hear the whole story, you'll have to stick around more than a cup of tea, maybe meeting us is better." He told me.

"Maybe, but with my schedule for patrol, I'll be surprised if I can even send a carrier hawk to Ironwood, let alone sit down and hear the story of you and your teammates." I sighed handing him his drink. "Here's the milk, sugar and sweeteners are kept in these jars." I told him sliding the carton and jars over to him along with a clean spoon.

"I see... Thanks." He said adding a few sweeteners to his tea.

"Who knows maybe I can get some free time this weekend... if another Huntsman shows up... Which I doubt. Can you keep a secret? I can't wear this mask for too long, gets right stuffy after a bit." I sighed pulling the mask away to let fresh air in while still having my face still slightly covered.

"I can, I keep many secrets that I must not tell." He told me, I only chuckled and removed my mask, I couldn't help but notice how oddly he stared at me, it was as if he had seen a ghost.

"Y-You are-!"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 Dead end

**(Silver's Perspective)**

The next morning after a light breakfast, we went to go talk to the ones in charge of the Atlesian military base, unfortunately we got the gates slammed in our face as a refusal to our small chat.

"Come on! You didn't even hear us out!" Yang yelled grabbing the bars. The two guards who I will call Tweedle dee and Tweedle dumb only said.

"Our orders are clear: The Mistral-Atlas border is closed!" Dee.

"Please!" Dumb.

"Have a good day!"

"But-" Yang then got interrupted by both these idiots.

"A good day!" I wanted to kill them so god damn bad.

"Hey, if you don't wanna believe that I'm friends with Ironwood-" Qrow started.

"General Ironwood!" They snapped back I groaned loudly.

"Yeah, General Ironwood, then fine. But look, we have Weiss Schnee with us and we're trying to get her home safely." He told them the two guards looked to one another.

"Approach!" The called my ears began to hurt from standing near them. I looked back my team were sceptical, RWBY were desperate at this point, Qrow, Maria and Cole looked done with this bullshit, Oscar was the only one with hope still in his eyes.

"Very well!" They both yipped surprising everyone.

"You may speak with our commanding officer!" Dumb said.

"We will fetch her at once!" Dee continued I rolled my eyes as they both turned and ran off to find the commanding officer.

"They were... kind of-"

"Super weird? Uh yeah." Ruby finished Blake's sentence.

"Guys, we should start thinking of ways to get to Atlas if these stooges don't help us." I whispered to my team to which I got three nods and I could only guess what diabolical scheme Night would think of.

"Hmm." It was Maria we all turned to her.

"Well, I... may know this commanding officer..." She told us.

"That's good, isn't it? If she's your friend, then maybe she'd be more willing to help us." Ruby smiled, I got a bad feeling about this

"I wouldn't exactly call us... "friends"." Maria told us.

"Acquaintances?" Weiss asked.

"Not quite."

"Colleagues?" Blake guessed.

"Warmer." We were told.

"Enemies?" Yang guessed next.

"That's the one!" Maria cheered almost.

"Wait, what?" Oscar exclaimed I sighed to myself realising that this is going to end horribly for us.

"Oh, yes. I come through here about once every ten years to get my eyes checked up in Atlas. You bring outside cashews on one flight, and suddenly you're placed on the additional screening list for life!" Maria explained.

"You've gotta be kidding me..." Qrow groaned.

"Now, now, let's not give up hope yet. Maybe she's dead!" I couldn't help but laugh at that.

"Introducing!" Oh, fuck they're back.

"Special operative!" Dumb.

"Caroline Cordovin!" They both introduced this short statured woman, around Maria's age in an Atlas uniform.

"Witch." Caroline spat at Maria.

"She-Devil." Was the response.

"Hm. I've seen you've chosen larger contraband to smuggle this time." Caroline hissed.

"Oh, Cordo. You know they say time changes people, but I see you've still got that stick right up your-" I knew where this was going, but Ruby quickly interrupted.

"H-hello! Miss, uh, Cordovin. My name is Ruby Rose, and I was wondering if you would hear us out about-"

"I've already heard what your other little friends had to say, Miss Rose." With that she suddenly went on the attack.

"What are you doing back here?! I thought I told you to leave!" She yelled I turned to see Jet and Sky holding back Ray.

"And I told you we wouldn't rest until you let us through!" Ray yelled.

"Nice to see you again as well!" Jet nervously smiled and waved trying to appear somewhat polite.

"I want to apologies for her, she's a bit of a bit-" I groaned as I hit the floor now cradling my stomach from Neo's jab.

"You civilians are clearly incapable of comprehending the importance of our mission here in Argus. So, allow me to say this slowly, with smaller words: This base, that relay tower, the very safety of Argus are all gifts from the glorious Kingdom of Atlas! And it is my duty to uphold them, as only I have the wit and tenacity for such a task." She exclaimed as I got back to my feet.

"Such wit!" Dee.

"Such tenacity!" Dumb.

"I want to kill them all." I signed.

"Don't you dare. Not yet anyway." Neo signed back.

"Or maybe Atlas just wanted to get you as far from the kingdom as possible." Maria joked, I snorted and slapped my hand over my mouth.

"You're just like the rest of these Argus ingrates! This city wouldn't even be here if it weren't for our Atlesian ancestors, and what do we get in return? The entire world is ready to put a knife to our throats!" She yelled I felt a growl erupt from my throat.

"Please, we know your kingdom had nothing to do with the Fall of Beacon. We were there." Ruby explained.

"That is an understatement." I told her she winced remembering what happened.

"No one's happy about the Atlas borders or embargo, but I know General Ironwood is just worried. It's why we need to talk to-" Weiss began

"The General is no coward! Atlas is strong. If all the kingdoms plan to make us their enemy, then so be it! Atlas will prevail!" Oh my god I just want to kick her back to Atlas.

"Atlas will prevail!" Dee and Dumb will go too.

"Do you guys seriously have to do that?" Yang said obviously unimpressed with these two stooges.

"If Miss Schnee has truly come to her senses and wishes to return to her family, then, of course, the Atlas military will escort her home. But the kingdom will not be responsible for her "friends" of... questionable character." She glared at Blake then at Ice and myself. EXCUSE ME BITCH!

"What's that supposed to mean?" Weiss snarled.

"It means we're done here." She smirked.

"Now hold on one damned second." I snapped as the gates closed trapping my hand.

"God damn it not again!" I yelled in anger, I sighed undoing my glove, rolled up my coat sleeve and began to bend the gate in order to give my arm more wiggle room.

"I don't..." Weiss began.

"Weiss. I told you we wouldn't leave your side for a second. We'll find a way to Atlas. Together." Ruby smiled putting a hand on Weiss' shoulder. I then saw Qrow walk away.

"So... where are we going now?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, what's the plan?" Sky asked.

"The plan? The plan just got shut on our face three times over. I'm going for a drink." Qrow growled I groaned softly knowing we'd never get him back on board as my hand finally popped out of the gate.

"Uncle Qrow, I really think we should try and come up with something... together."

"What's his problem? It's not your fault we can't go on." Jet smiled.

"If he's gonna be a jerk then we'll just come up with something without him. I mean, we've got Ozpin with us! He usually knows what to do." Sky smiled, Oscar looked down at the ground as WBY gave each other troubled looks.

"What is it?" Ray asked.

"Let's head back, you should be sat down for this." I told them as I flexed my hand to get feeling back into it.

When we got back Ruby started explaining everything.

After explaining what we had initially hidden from them, Jet punched into a wall leaving a spider web like crack in the wall.

"Jet!" Ruby yelled.

"Everything we did was for nothing!" He argued, he barely knew the kid, but I know where he's coming from, he was speaking for Sky.

"That's not true." Blake piped up trying to calm the situation down.

"Really? Cuz it sure does sound like it." Ray growled, I got to my feet feeling the tension in the air.

"I, um..." The black cat fell silent.

"If Salem can't be killed, then how are we supposed to win this?" Sky asked, she seemed close to tears.

The silence was deafening.

"Wow... Great plan everyone!" Jet snapped sarcastically.

"Look, none of this is great, we know. But we're not the bad guys here." Oscar said, he probably should have kept his mouth shut.

"Are we sure about that?" Jet growled glaring daggers at him.

"What?" Oscar asked.

"He's in your head, isn't he? Did you already know about this?" He barked as he began to step towards Oscar.

"He didn't know any of it!" Weiss tried to defend him.

"How much longer can we even trust him?!" Jet's voice grew louder I began to move to get between him and Oscar.

"How do we even know it's really him?! What if we have been talking to that liar this whole time?!" He closed the gap, I pulled Oscar behind me and gave Jet a hard shove to the chest nearly sending him flying across the room.

"No need to be so hostile, the boy is innocent so calm down before things get ugly for you." I glared down at him and got a similar look back, he then got up and left, I heard his room door slam shut.

"Is he... going to be okay?" Yang asked.

"I don't know!" Ray yelled as she got up and left.

"I think it would be best... if we had some time to think." Sky whimpered, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Best idea." I told her as she too left the room.

As the day went by, I had explored the rest of this giant warehouse conversion. How Fenrir afforded all this still had me baffled.

I had come across what I guessed was a small sparring room and to my greater surprise, was a well-kept forge, it was small, had one sander, an anvil one furnace and a power hammer. I whistled to myself stroking off the dust from the anvil, I then found a note from Fenrir.

"If you use this forge, please keep it tidy."

I sighed and removed my jacket, gloves, vest and over shirt. I started up the forge and drew out what my new weapons would look like, I had lost my shotgun in the blizzard so now all I had was the damned axe I found.

The sweat that dripped from my brow as I struck the now heated metal, I wanted to use the power hammer but something from deep within me kept me from placing my hand upon it.

The hot air burned my lungs as I worked, the only moisture I had was the salty sweat that coated my body as I created the cruel edge of an axe, cooling it in a vat of oil I turned to the metal inside the forge. I felt my stress wash away with each strike of metal as I forged a new sword.

I had forged the hilt instead of casting it to save myself some days.

I left the forge determined to finish my new weapons tomorrow, I smiled seeing some of my blacksmith muscle returning however when I left, I noticed that something was wrong, Neo was sat outside waiting to which she signed.

"Get a shower quick, Oscar is missing we're splitting up to cover more ground." I nodded and ran to grab a shower and some clean clothes.

This kid would be the death of me. I quickly dried off, pulled on my outfit and left quickly the cold air hit my skin, my ears folded immediately due to me not drying my hair.

It was so cold...


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 Lost

I ran through the streets keeping an eye out for our little farm boy, I kept quiet, my hood had been flipped up as my ears were getting way too cold for comfort. I ran around dodging people and any guards from the Atlas base.

Due to muscle memory I wanted nothing more than to slip into the back streets and climb up something to get onto the rooftops an outdoor fire exit on a block of flats would be perfect. I sighed, rubbing my hands together to try and get my fingers to warm up.

Looking around I took a deep breath trying to find Oscar's scent but there were far too many, the people around here wore so much perfume and cologne it stung my senses. I looked around then checked my pockets for some Lien, I had spotted a café earlier that I might go and grab a snack.

As I slowed to a jog I decided to go through the nearby park as there didn't seem to be many people going through it. It was nice and quiet, easy to sprint through.

After grabbing a snack and a warm drink I went back to the park as something had caught my eye prior. As I came back to the park, I had finished the small pastry I had picked up and had thrown away the napkin I got with it. As I jogged back to the centre of the park, I suddenly bumped into someone.

I had spilt the hot chocolate all over myself. I growled brushing as much off of myself as possible.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" The person I had bumped into cried.

"No, it's okay, I should have been looking where I was going." I sighed looking up my heart stopped.

Red hair, emerald green eyes...

Pyrrha Nikos...

I knew she wouldn't recognise me especially with my hood up.

"Are you alright? That looks hot." She asked.

"Don't worry it hasn't gone through the overshirt." I told her.

"I should introduce myself. I'm Pyrrha Ni-"

"Nikos, I know, a lot of people know about you and your achievements." I told her keeping myself quiet.

"Yes... of course." She chuckled nervously.

"I'm... Cole, Cole Sapphire." I lied. "Mind if we sit down to talk?" I asked.

"Of course, I'm guessing you've heard about me hanging up my sword for good then." She told me.

"No, I haven't, you were an amazing fighter and I was one of the few who dreamt of having skill like yours." I spoke the truth to her, seeing a sad smile form on her face.

"Yes, many did, I just wish I could have protected my friends at Beacon better, to live up to the expectations." She sighed pointing to the statue.

The statue was of a girl, I had seen her at Beacon before but never talked to her. She was wearing a shirt with an eagle silhouette, a baseball cap worn backwards, medium length hair that covered one eye, she wore shorts and simple designer trainers, she had a large snowboard stood next to her with her holding onto it, the detail of the statue was impressive.

The plaque on the front read "IN HONOR OF SAM DAISY, ONE OF MANY STUDENTS WHO FOUGHT VALIANTLY AT THE FALL OF BEACON".

"I tried hard to convince the council to have the statue of one of my friends, the one who saved my life but. No one knew where she came from so the Council chose another student from the area and only had the names of those from Argus who died." She told me pointing to the stone monolith behind the statue.

"Looks like someone's vandalised it." I said getting up to take a closer look.

The name at the bottom had been carved in with a knife or something.

"Someone did..." Pyrrha noted coming up behind me.

"Silver Charcoal... You knew them?" I asked tracing the scratches.

"Yes they... She saved my life. I don't know who added her name there though." She answered I stood straight.

"You best get someone to get rid of it because this is wrong." I told her staring down at my own name.

"What do you mean?"

"Silver Charcoal isn't dead." I told her deciding to go for the more direct approach.

"What do you mean?" Pyrrha repeated giving me a bit of an aggressive tone.

I pulled down my hood and messed up my hair a little bit.

"She can't be dead... Cause I'm still here." I smiled turning to face her.

"Surprise... I'm still alive." I chuckled.

I froze up as Pyrrha hugged me, tears falling from her eyes.

"Look, I'm not staying long, I've got an appointment with Ironwood and I'm missing a friend, he's short, dark brown hair greenish brown eyes, looks like a farmhand, smells like one too." I told her as we broke the hug.

"I'm sorry, I haven't seen anyone like that." She told me smiling as she wiped her eyes.

"It's good to see you're okay, how's your team?" I asked gripping her shoulder.

"They're fine, Jaune is getting really good with his sword, Ren and Nora seem to be getting closer, if that's even possible." She smiled as we sat down again.

"What about you, where have you been this entire time?" She asked, I only sighed.

"For the most part, I'd rather not remember but let's just say, I've seen the true face of the enemy and the forces following them."

We chatted for a few more minutes, she told me about Jaune's sister and wife who worked at the relay tower, that info might come in useful later. She got a message from her mother and had to leave. She wished me well and gave me an address and her scroll number so that I could send her letters and messages to keep her updated.

As we split ways, I got a message on my new scroll. Checking it Neo had messaged me, Oscar was back at the warehouse.

I took off back weaving through the people nearly crashing into a woman with blonde hair and blue eyes holding her son.

"Sorry!" I called as I brushed by them.

I slammed into the door expecting it to be open but I ran head first into a locked door.

As I got up and rubbed my head, I spotted Qrow asleep in the snow pretty much hidden by the shrubbery he had collapsed in.

"Come on, you'll freeze to death out here." I sighed picking him up.

"Why am I laid in some bushes?" He groaned.

"Maybe cause, everyone has been looking for Oscar come on, your legs aren't broken you can stand." I told him as he steadied himself.

The door then opened to reveal Oscar in a new fancy looking coat.

"Well, well, well, look at you mister fancy." I chuckled as I walked in.

"What's cooking?" I asked.

"Casserole, so go clean yourself up." A masked stranger told me, that must be Fenrir.

"Anyone got an idea on how we're going to get to Atlas?" Sky asked.

"I've got one, but it's kinda of a "no going back" deal." Jet said.

"With Cordo on watch, only Atlas airships have the clearance to leave for Solitas. So... we... steal an Atlas airship." Jet smiled.

"That's not just breaking the law. That's... that's definitely worse." Weiss murmured.

"How would we even get onto the airfield?" Yang asked.

"That part I haven't quite figured out yet. But I-"

"Okay, stop. Just... stop! Look, if this thing goes south, it's not something we can just fight our way out of. This is the Atlas Military we're talking about." Qrow interrupted then sighed. "For your sake, just drop this."

"No." I growled watching Qrow try to sneak away.

"I want to hear him out." Ruby said backing me up.

"He has part of a plan, that's good, we have something to work with, something to work around, we just have to figure out everything in between." I told him.

"Well, you have three people here of Atlas origin so we could easily get back and hijack an airship." It was Fenrir who spoke up.

"That's right, Fenrir and I will go with Weiss to hijack an airship." Cole smiled, it was odd how quiet he could randomly become.

"Also, I think I might have a friend who can probably help us out." I smiled dialling up a number.


	10. Chapter 10

**Wolf: GUESS WHO'S HAD A KIDNEY INFECTION**

**Tiger: And you're lazy**

Chapter 10 Stealing from the elderly

It was time to head to Atlas, and to make sure we have a high success rate we had split up to take out the coms tower, I was with Blake and Yang, Neo had tried to argue her case but she gave in when I clearly instructed her as her team leader to stay with team RWBY in case things go south.

Riding on Grimmgash brought back slightly fond memories of the days back in Vale and reminded me the reason I had built Grimmgash in the first place. I looked to Yang and Blake and sighed to myself realising that this was probably the dumbest idea I had ever come up with.

Blake had her scroll out and was receiving instructions to help take out the coms tower from a Terra Cotta-Arc Jaune's sister-in-law. I still couldn't believe we had convinced a coms technician to help us sabotage the bloody thing.

"And that's when Blake steps in. We're almost at the drop off." Yang spoke through the radio, I felt a chill run down my spine, someone was watching us.

"Okay, remember: one, the radar box is separate from the rest of the communications equipment. So, if you disconnect it properly, it won't take out comms for the rest of the city. Two, this conversation never happened." I overheard.

"Don't worry, this isn't the first time I've disabled Atlas security." Blake joked.

"Never. Happened."

We came to the drop off point and Blake hopped off bumblebee and proceeded until Yang opened her mouth.

"You sure I shouldn't come with?"

"More intruders mean we're more likely to be seen. Besides, stealth isn't exactly your, um..."

Yang crossed her arms at that statement.

"I mean, you're great! And I'll hurry back." I chuckled.

"Go." Yang told her, her expression softening.

"Don't worry, stealth isn't my forte either." I smiled from the saddle.

"Heading in on foot. Won't be long." Blake spoke into her scroll as she ran out of sight.

I looked up into the foliage above. I hope my team will be okay without me.

(Neo's POV)

"Everything is going smoothly so far." Ice called everyone nodded. I wrung my parasol in my hands thinking about Silver, she went with Yang and Blake to give them a bit of extra back up in case of anything happening on the mission.

I turned to Ruby and saw her looking a little down.

"Hey, this is gonna work." Oscar told her.

"Yeah." She replied as we waited on the cliff for the airship to come and pick us up.

We only had to wait a few minutes in eerie silence when Ruby suddenly looked up from her scroll.

"Alright guys, this is it." She said raising her finger to her ear.

"Blake, you're up." But there seemed to be no answer.

"Blake?"

(Silver's POV)

Yang and I sat there playing poker using pebbles as chips when Yang suddenly got up and looked over at the coms tower.

"Yang, what's going on?" I heard.

"I don't know..." She muttered, I grabbed all the cards and shoved them in my pocket.

"Shall we go check?" I asked hopping into Grimmgash's saddle.

"Yeah, best idea." Yang told me.

(Neo's POV)

We stood around thinking when Ruby put a finger to her earpiece.

"We don't know, Blake isn't responding." Ruby replied.

"What do we do?!" Oscar started to panic, suddenly Yang's voice came in over the coms.

"Keep the ship in one piece."

"Maybe we should fly over to help Silver, Yang and Blake first?" Sky asked as we all shuffled around a bit, we had our weapons in hand in case things got ugly.

"Damn it! Cordo's gonna scramble her fighters. We've got maybe ninety seconds before they're in the air, and all over Weiss, Fenrir, Cole and Maria. This is all my fault..." Qrow started.

"What are you talking about? Your Semblance?" Ice asked.

"Every choice I've ever made has led me here, and I've dragged you along with me. Oz, myself, the others... We're responsible for the mess the world's in now. I shouldn't have come, shouldn't have let any of you come... What was I thinking?!" He yelled as a silence fell over us.

"We're all in this together, and we're all going to do the best we can. That's all anyone can do. And I know it's what you've always aimed for. We would've come whether or not you'd let us, so stop talking like we're your responsibility! We're not! But we could still use Qrow Branwen on our side." Ruby smiled at her uncle.

"Hm... How did you grow up so fast?" He asked her.

"I had good role models." She told him, they both shared a chuckle.

"Guys? She's not sending fighters..." Weiss suddenly said over the coms, I felt my blood freeze in my veins.

We turned to see the Argus base, the mountain at the base retracts, revealing a colossal mech that overlooks the city of Argus. My jaw dropped, that thing would easily crush us.

"It's time you asked yourselves, children... Do you truly wish to defy me?" Cordovin... was piloting that thing?

"Hurry back, Weiss. I need you on the ground if we're gonna take this thing down." Ruby told her.

"Don't think I'm sitting around when there's a robot to fight!" Fenrir laughed through the coms as they flew closer to us.

What was taking them so long with the coms tower?


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 The lady in the shoe

(Neo's POV)

I looked between the group wondering how the hell we were going to beat that thing when Ruby pressed a finger to her ear.

"We've fought giant monsters before. This is just a tiny old lady... with one very big robot." Ruby spoke, was she insane? How the hell are we going to beat that thing?

"You little spider-coaches thought you could creep your way to Atlas?! Well, let's see how your resolve holds out against the might of the Atlesian Military!" She howled at us, oh what I wouldn't give for Silver to be here to help fight that thing.

Cordovin prepared to take down the airship with a missile that popped out from a slot on the arm cannon. The missile fired and tracks the airship, but suddenly, it explodes harmlessly just right behind it. I snapped my head to Ruby who had shot the missile.

"So be it!" I wanted to smack Ruby so hard. We then saw the robot turn to us, the cannon arm twisting before an icy blue glow came from inside... Shit. Suddenly the airship dived behind us, Weiss hopped out and summoned a huge stone wall to take the hit for us, Fenrir and Cole joined us behind the wall.

"That was close." Oscar smiled I nodded and looked between the others to see if anyone had any idea.

"We need to figure out how to stop Cordovin and protect the airship until we do." Ruby told us.

"Let's give her more targets to focus on." Jet suggested.

"You mean us, don't you?" Ray asked obviously unimpressed with the idea.

"Look at that thing. It's not designed for small enemies. It's probably meant for giant Grimm that come in from deeper waters. We can turn our size into an advantage. We just have to be smart." Jet explained I smiled knowing full well that being a distraction is what team SINN are experts in.

"Maria, can you keep the ship out of harm's way?" Ruby asked.

"They can take my driver's license, but I won't let them take this ship!" She replied.

"Very reassuring." Ice sighed to himself.

"I'll be more useful if I go with her. From up high, I can try to spot a weakness."

"I'm not much of a shot but I could probably hop on that thing and do some damage." Fenrir offered hopping on the airship with Oscar.

"Well, he's not the only one who can grab a bird's eye view." Qrow smiled.

"You said you needed me on the ground?" Weiss asked.

"Well... not exactly." Ruby came clean with her plan. We split into four groups, Ruby and Qrow would fly over the barrier, Weiss would slide down the ice wall, Ice, Naniele and I would run around to distract Cordovin on her left, Maria, Oscar and Fenrir would fly around the mech to allow Fenrir to hop down on it while Sky, Jet and Ray would create a distraction on Cordo's right.

We all lunged out at the same time. I watched the mech carefully and signalled the two to start shooting at the mech to get the elderly piolet's attention.

"Hey, over here!" Ice yelled.

"What?" She turned to use, we immediately legged it giving her three-moving targets, and Silver said it wouldn't be beach season.

We took cover while handing Naniele some new dust explosion bullets Silver and Ice had created while in Mistral. However, as soon as she pulled the trigger Cordo brought up a shield that caused the bullet to explode on contact leaving the mech unscathed.

"Surely you knew Atlas was the father of hard-light Dust, or do lesser kingdoms simply lack proper education?" Cordo laughed at us I gritted my teeth using my semblance I grabbed Ice and Naniele dodging the dust blast from Cordo..

"Cordo just activated shields!" Ice yelled obviously angry that we wouldn't be able to do any damage to the mech.

"I saw that. We need to find whatever's generating it." Oscar called over the coms, we huddled down behind a huge rock hoping not to be spotted.

"You know, in video games, the weak spot's usually on the back of the giant boss!" Ruby called over next.

"Ruby, this isn't a game!" Weiss yelled.

"I'm just trying to- LOOK OUT!" It hurt not being able to help them out, but Naniele was the only one with a good range weapon and was currently shooting at the mech with her regular bullets.

"You are ants! You are lower than ants!" I sat there twiddling my thumbs unsure of what to do with this big problem on hand.

"Until the shield's down, we're gonna have to get up close and personal with this thing." Yeah like we weren't trying to do that already Qrow.

We watched from on far as everyone else fought against the mech. I was stood there thinking to myself trying to figure out what would Silver do in this situation, that alone would be a bad idea.

I saw Fenrir on the back of the mech with Qrow they had found something and were currently stabbing/shooting at whatever it was.

"No, no, no, no!" Cordovin yelled I'm guessing the shields are down, Naniele switched her ammunition and gave a test shot, knocking the mech off balance.

That was good news.

"I've had enough of you ingrates!" She yelled suddenly swinging her cannon at us, I grabbed Naniele and shoved her out of the way with Ice, the cannon smashed into my copy as I rolled off the cannon and back down.

"This is what happens when you think you know better than those rightfully in charge!" She shouted I looked over and saw Ruby was in trouble.

Maria flew by and fired a missile. Suddenly, the mech grabbed the missile with its hand, causing Cordovin to turn the mech around to Maria's direction. Well shit...

"Calavera..." Came the hiss as the mech threw the missile back, it exploded in front of the ship causing it to rattle. This is really, REALLY bad.

(Silver's POV)

Yang had sped off leaving me and Grimmgash in the dust. I could smell blood even from this distance, someone was here and causing the deaths of so many innocent guards. Coming to the scene I hopped off Grimmgash and checked one of the nearby bodies. Huge slash marks not the right diameter to be from Blake's Gambol Shroud but pretty close maybe Raven or... Oh shit on it.

I leapt back onto Grimmgash and lashed the reigns spurring him to top speed, this was bad. If Adam was here then Yang and Blake are in trouble. Big trouble.

The thundering sound of these metal hooves on dirt I watched the ground following the bike tracks, broken twigs and branches any sign of disturbance I followed. Swallowing my fear, I knew full well that Adam would most likely be looking to murder the two if I could intervein at any point and maybe try and scare him off that would be brilliant.

I rolled my shoulders knowing that his sword could easily break my new weapons, two hand axes that could be joint together into a huge battle axe and a long sword both made out of my special blend of three different types of metal, silver and Iron being the main components and I had used what little of the special metal Ice had on him to create them.

When I appeared on scene, I saw Blake on her knees resting while Yang and Adam stared each other down. I watched the two fight so I spurred onwards Grimmgash snorting as we galloped into the fray.

"Yang!" Blake warned as Adam swung with his semblance. The swing smashed into Grimmgash and I. I rolled across the natural stone bridge, feeling a sharp sting in my leg I looked down and saw that it had been severed.

"The fuck Taurus?" I yelled at him as I struggled to grab my severed leg and held them together to heal.

"Silver? I thought you were dead." He told me.

"Yeah well so did everyone else here." I snarled brushing the dust from my coat and groaning at the state my trouser leg was in.

"These were expensive mate." I then looked around and saw Grimmgash, he had been torn in half by the attack, his core visible and had rolled out of his rib cage.

"I BUILT HIM TO TAKE MY GIRLFIREND NOW FIANCEE ON A DATE YOU DICK!" I howled running over knowing full well I wouldn't be able to fix this mess.

"Fucking hell... Well thanks now I have to start from scratch, at least the power core isn't damaged." I growled picking up the soul core and slipping it into my pocket.

"Now, how about you do them a favour and. Leave. Them. ALONE!" I snapped at him and watched as his lips formed a snarl at my betrayal, his eyes narrowed I whistled at the sight of his brand.

"Heh, do you really believe that? Or are you just trying to scare me away so you won't have to die trying to protect them?" He asked me, I saw Yang get angry but I just held my hand out to tell her not to interact.

"First of all, I can't die now pretty sure the trick with my leg should have given that away. Second of all, they're protecting each other, not me, and I'm not protecting them. I know they don't need me to, they're partners so they watch one another's back regardless." I told him as we squared up.

I grinned seeing Yang and Blake prepare to fight with me.

"So, then Adam, how about we finish this here and now." I smirked as I pulled my axes from their loops on my belt.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 Seeing red

(Neo's POV)

I got up and brushed the dust from my clothes watching the mech swing at the airship, my heart was in my throat as I watched the battle, spotting Fenrir regrouping with everyone.

We rushed over to the others just managing the catch the fact that Oscar had some kind of plan.

"Well, we're all ears." Ice told them as we stepped up.

"The cylinder on Cordo's cannon rotates and locks in a giant Dust cartridge every time she changes attack styles." Oscar told us.

"We noticed." Weiss replied a bit angry about being told something obvious.

"Right, but her missile launcher doesn't lock in, it pops out! Without her shields, one well-placed shot could detonate the missiles while they're still in the launcher!" Immediately we all got at what he was saying.

"We could destroy the entire cannon... Oscar, that's brilliant!" Jet smiled.

"Can you... make that kind of shot?" Ice asked Ruby knowing full well that Naniele would probably flinch at the sight of the cannon.

"We'll only get one chance before she catches on. I'd have to be practically staring down the barrel of her cannon." Ruby told us, I felt a chill run down my spine.

"Well, I've got a way to guarantee that." Maria smiled as she flew by, Ruby hopped on board Qrow of course tried to stop her.

"Ruby, what are you doing?" He yelled, we all watched as the airship fly towards the mech, we wished we could hear what Maria had said but all we got was the reply so we could only guess what was said.

"One missile you say? That's a shame, Maria, because I have plenty!" My heart was racing as I watched the missile cartridge popped out however I guess she must have seen Ruby as it went back in and the bullet bounced harmlessly off the mech.

Well... There goes our last chance.

"You thought you could fool me?!" She screamed firing a lightning shot at the airship, only just clipping it, we all scattered to avoid getting hit by the airship heading for us.

Once we were sure we were safe we all ran towards the airship to check. I breathed a sigh of relief as it seemed to be in one piece along with everyone on board.

"We're... we're still in one piece!" Oscar smiled we all suddenly turned hearing the mech stomping towards us.

"Very clever, but even the smartest apes can't compete with the intellect of man." Cordo mocked us. I gritted my teeth and marched towards the edge and stared directly up at the mech.

"Surrender for your crimes, and accept your punishment." She ordered us.

"No!" Ruby yelled defiantly.

"We're going to Atlas. Bigger people than you have tried to stop us and failed, but we're supposed to be on the same side! We're supposed to use our power to protect people, but you just use yours to look down on everyone!" Ruby argued I moved from the group to a tree, placing two fingers in my mouth I whistled and along came a little black and white cat.

Heathen took one look in my eyes, nodded and ran off to find Silver.

"We didn't want to steal from you. We did it because you gave us no other choice! Now I'm giving you one last chance to stand down and hear us out." Ruby continued to call up to the mech.

"I've heard enough..." Wow, has she learned nothing from the fall of Beacon and the attack on Haven?

Turning I watched as Ruby shot up INTO the cannon...

"Okay this is Silver level of insane!" Ice yelled as we watched.

"The missile launcher springs out... but the raw dust gets locked in!" Jet exclaimed, so a shot into the barrel would have worked as well... Wow we're dumb!

Ruby shot back out soon enough and the cannon suddenly sprouted stone and ice weighing it down so much that it couldn't be raised from the waters. Weiss tried to slow Ruby's fall but a large black wolf lunged out and grabbed Ruby before twisting mid-air and almost floating back down to the cliff.

It gave Qrow his niece before dispersing and returning to Fenrir a quick flash of pure black and their aura had strengthened around them.

"Ruby? Ruby!" Qrow yelled as she opened her silver eyes.

"Told ya." She joked.

"Don't tell me I missed it." Maria groaned.

(Silver's POV)

"You knew you couldn't win two-on-one at Haven. What makes you so sure you can win now?" Adam yelled snapping his head around to keep all of us in his sight.

"I don't have a choice. I have people who actually care about me, and I promised I'd never leave them again. So, I'm not dying now." Blake snapped at him, Yang smiled at that statement.

"You know, she made a promise to me once. That she'd always be at my side. Heh, and look how well she's kept it." Adam growled I wish I had some popcorn.

"Did she make that promise to you? Or to the person you were pretending to be?" Yang retorted I snickered.

"So, I wasn't just good enough for you?" He asked after a bit of tense silence.

"You know it's so much more than that." Blake growled.

"I know you've made your choice... and I've made mine." Adam growled.

"I might stay out of this." I chuckled stepping away from them and watched.

The three combatants then take defensive stances as they resume their battle. Blake and Yang rushed forward together. The two of them worked together to strike at Adam with a series of back and forth blows and slashes. Blake grabbed the bottom portion of her broken Gambol Shroud katana and threw it at Adam, but he deflected it back at her. Yang noticed this and grabbed the pistol and used the ribbon to swing Blake around. Blake used her cleaver to clash with Adam's sword, but he sent her flying back. Blake's back hit the cliffside of the waterfall, depleting her Aura. She nearly fell off the ledge and is currently hanging on for dear life.

"Blake!" Yang yelled this is where I intervene.

"Moment of truth, Yang. Do you think you're faster than you were at Beacon? He smirked seeing her start to shake.

"Me neith-" I smashed the handle of my axe into his jaw sending him flying.

"How about you pick on someone else?" I snarled baring my teeth.

I didn't give him time to retort as I lunged at him swinging wildly each of my strikes either hit him or was blocked. I ducked and blocked a swing headbutting him with as much force as I could muster.

"Funny, you're a bull you should be charging and using your head more, don't leave it all to the predator with the scary teeth!" I mocked howling with laughter as I watched him lose his temper.

Yang suddenly took over shooting at Adam getting his attention, he charged and swiped at her, I would at random come in with some hits of my own.

"Hit me already!" He yelled at Yang as he tried to both attack her and scare me off.

"What does she even see in you?!" He screamed knocking her back I then spotted Blake still climbing.

"You're just a coward like her!" He screeched unleashing his semblance, I moved to block it not with my weapons cause that would just break them.

When the dust cleared, I stood there between Yang and Adam, his eyes widened in both horror and fear as he watched my innards move around from the massive slash across my body as the muscle and skin stitched itself back together.

I wiped the blood from my mouth and looked him in the eye.

"You can't kill me Adam... I'm immortal." I snarled he then lunged but I just caught his sword in hand.

"Gotcha." I smirked as Yang delivered a jab to his side sending him flying. I took this time to check out the handiwork of Wilt.

"Have to say Adam, this some impressive craftsmanship. Too bad I have to do this, would have loved to have tried to remake it." I sighed as I snapped the blade across my knee and chucked it into the tree line.

Blake suddenly came down to attack Adam only to be countered, pinned and being choked to death by Adam.

I ran over grabbing the noose from Grimmgash, I rammed Adam knocking him from Blake and immediately put him in a choke hold.

"Are you... Are you... coming to the tree... they strung up a man they say who murdered three... Strange things did happen here... No stranger would it be... if we met at midnight... in the hanging tree." I began to sing as he began to thrash harder as I hissed my song into his ear.

"Are you, are you coming to the tree? Where a dead man called out for his love to flee, strange things did happen here no stranger would it be if we met at midnight in the hanging tree." I continued as he broke free, I revealed my current weapon of choice, I could see a flash of fear in his eyes.

Adam swung for me, I only wrapped the rope around his wrist pulling him closer.

"Are you, are you coming to the tree? Where I told you to run, so we'd both be free... Strange things did happen here no stranger would it be if we met at midnight in the hanging tree." I sung looping the noose around his neck and tying both his hands behind him as I danced around each strike from him. My voice becoming increasingly angrier as his eyes begin to fill with fear as he realized what I was doing.

"Are you, are you coming to the tree? Wear a neckless of rope, side by side with me! Strange things did happen here no stranger would it be! If we met! At midnight! IN! THE! HANGING! TREE!" I yelled delivering a hard kick to Adam's chest sending him over the edge.

I heard his yell... then silence... I waited for a few seconds before pulling up the corpse of Adam Taurus.

I dropped his lifeless body and looked over at Yang and Blake.

"I really didn't want to do that." I told myself as I watched Blake fall to her knees sobbing.

"I... I am not going to break my promise, I swear." She sobbed into Yang's shoulder as they hugged it out.

"I know you won't." Yang told her, comforting her partner.

I looked down at the corpse and sighed, I moved him into a more funeral like position, I took Blush from his belt, closed his eyes and turned away. I could use his weapon to recreate Ice's weapon, stronger than ever.

We then heard a loud roar. Heathen in his sabre cat form stood at the tree line, I knew something was wrong.

(Neo's POV)

"No! No, no, no, NO! You! You're never getting to Atlas! Do you hear me?! NEVER! All forces converge on my position and eliminate these pests at once!" Cordovin screamed in a seething rage.

"Crap!" Oscar exclaimed.

"Everyone on board! We're making a run for it!" Maria yelled.

"What about Yang, Blake and Silver!" Ice asked as we all moved towards the airship. I suddenly got a bad feeling. Suddenly our on-ship radio came on.

"Ma'am, we've been trying to reach you! Argus is in danger!" OH SHIT!

"It's a Leviathan! It began its approach during your battle! We need you!" We all turned with wide eyes to stare at the still struggling mech.


End file.
